How deep do we want to go with God?

I just returned from following my seventeen-year-old son across three states to watch him compete in several basketball tournaments.

One of them was held in Las Vegas. For this rurally bred girl, I find it a disturbing city. On the outside it’s sparkly and alluring, but beneath the lights lurks so much darkness. It reminds me of a giant Venus flytrap.

We stayed at a casino and the people were nice, but maybe a bit jaded? As if it wouldn’t surprise them a bit if you tried to pull a fast one on them. Which is what they’ve likely seen and experienced in that environment.

So how do we keep our love on for people when we see them at their worst? How does God keep His love on for us?

God is calling us to new playing grounds. To deeper levels of intimacy and connection.

He’s inviting us to open our hearts to Him. To really open our hearts. No holding back that guarded five percent (or fifty) that we do with most people. That safety zone we hide in when we get fearful or uncertain.

God wants us naked and transparent in all our emotions. Not coming to Him after we’ve locked anger and resentment, or jealousy and envy back into the closets of our minds. The place we store all those ugly “not Christian enough” emotions.

That smoke and mirrors room that shields our imperfections.

He wants us to bring everything to Him. All the dirt and ugliness that we slog through. It can be incredibly difficult to be honest with God. We don’t want to be rejected or judged by the One who matters most.

But we never will—–His love through His blood has washed us clean.

It can also be tremendously exciting to be completely honest with Him.

There’s that curl of anticipation, like when you find out that the boy you’ve had a crush on just might like you.

It’s called HOPE.

Hope that God truly will embrace us when we stand near Him with the fruit of our poor choices weighing us down.

Hope that the truth that we read in the Word will make that twelve inch drop from head to heart and flow into every part of our being.

Hope that we will truly begin to grasp the Nature and Goodness of the One who created us.

Prayer

Father, teach us how to trust You with the most vulnerable parts of ourselves. Help us to love ourselves as You do and treat ourselves with the kindness and gentleness and goodness that You embrace us with. Teach us how—-in our transparency with You—-to receive Your love and acceptance. You understand us more than we even do ourselves and You have the greatest plans for our lives. Release Your hope into our souls. In Jesus name, amen.

Photos via Pixabay