Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Expose Yourself
Matt Kleberg on CGO
The answer is simple - too many people rely on being accepted, "just the way we are" to avoid changing just the way we are. Such change is the point of the gospel. Jesus did not die so I could wallow in this crap - He died to provide me a way out. Agreed, that way out is not of my own power, but His. Agreed, God loves me more than I can imagine - in fact, He loves me so much He wants better for me than I can provide for myself.
I have a somewhat different take on the whole acceptance thing. I don't think we are supposed to like ourselves all that much. If we like ourselves complacency rules to day.
But there is a caveat. Kleberg's post is not necessarily about liking ourselves - it is really about making an honest survey of ourselves - looking at ourselves squarely. It's about confession. See, I don't think we need to like ourselves, but I do think we need to be honest with ourselves. We cannot improve what we are unwilling to admit is broken.
Such an honest appraisal of oneself does require a deep understanding of God's love for us. So many of us, myself included, are afraid that if we are truly honest something will break somewhere and be irreparable.
I recently spent sometime repairing toilets in my house. Took about an hour. But the problems with them had been present for a couple of years. I spent those couple of years going - "Ah, it's not that bad - I'll get to it when I have nothing better to do." Before I could even fix the toilet, I had to admit a problem was a problem.
Think about it...
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Our greatest desire is to be fully known and fully accepted. Deep down we want someone to see us for who we are- the beautiful with the ugly- and neither balk in disgust nor mistake us for something we are not, something better with fewer blemishes and flaws. And yet, we fear the fulfillment of the very thing we desire. Our greatest fear is to be known, found out, rejected. Out of this fear we build up defenses like walls, hiding our weakness, preventing anyone from really knowing us at all. We are like shopkeepers that put mannequins in the window, clean projections of the person we would rather people see (confident, attractive, sociable, interesting, etc), all the while keeping the shop door locked tight, carefully keeping the ugly reality of our imperfect lives out of sight.Excellent psychological advice and reasonable theology too - so why do I fear it?
[...]
So what’s the solution- how do we get over the fear of exposure? The answer is certainly not try harder. Rather, I think the answer has to do with resting, resting in the promises of the God “to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid.” This is the gospel: that God walks into a gallery, sees your face on the wall- knows every bit from the surface right on through to the core- and is utterly mesmerized by the beauty. He may as well be looking into a mirror. We are utterly known and profoundly accepted.
The answer is simple - too many people rely on being accepted, "just the way we are" to avoid changing just the way we are. Such change is the point of the gospel. Jesus did not die so I could wallow in this crap - He died to provide me a way out. Agreed, that way out is not of my own power, but His. Agreed, God loves me more than I can imagine - in fact, He loves me so much He wants better for me than I can provide for myself.
I have a somewhat different take on the whole acceptance thing. I don't think we are supposed to like ourselves all that much. If we like ourselves complacency rules to day.
But there is a caveat. Kleberg's post is not necessarily about liking ourselves - it is really about making an honest survey of ourselves - looking at ourselves squarely. It's about confession. See, I don't think we need to like ourselves, but I do think we need to be honest with ourselves. We cannot improve what we are unwilling to admit is broken.
Such an honest appraisal of oneself does require a deep understanding of God's love for us. So many of us, myself included, are afraid that if we are truly honest something will break somewhere and be irreparable.
I recently spent sometime repairing toilets in my house. Took about an hour. But the problems with them had been present for a couple of years. I spent those couple of years going - "Ah, it's not that bad - I'll get to it when I have nothing better to do." Before I could even fix the toilet, I had to admit a problem was a problem.
Think about it...
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