Why so personal?

Most of us spend a good portion of our lives trying to keep things hidden, we hide things from our boss, we hide things from our pastor, we hide things from those that enforce the law, we hide things from our wives, we hide things from our husbands, we hide things from our children, we hide things from our parents, we hide things from friends and family but what if you were in a situation where those things were revealed, at least one side anyway? What if people began to form opinions about you based on what others said and did so without ever asking you if it was true or not? What if those opinions began to affect your life so much you began to feel boxed in or at least limited by what they believed to be true? Jesus said in Matthew 13:57 “Only in their own towns and in their own homes are prophets without honor.” This is not to imply that we are holy or righteous like Jesus but rather that people’s opinions are formed on what they believe to be true, whether it is true or not and being as such these opinions limit their own ability to see what is right in front of them. In affect they willingly place blinders on their own eyes and then go around telling everyone they know the way. Jesus asked the people, “why worry about the speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” Matthew 7:3

When your private matters have been exposed for all to see somewhere from deep down inside you begin to yearn for the truth to be known, not in part but the whole because a partial truth is still a lie and you know even those who so freely offer opinions about how to run your life have things of their own they are hiding. Job did not have good things to say about his “friends” who offered advise (Job 13:4). You don’t long for truth to be made known so those on the outside looking in can go through the same thing you did but rather you long for truth because that is what really matters, in all of our lives the façade we work so hard to hold up must come down if real growth is going to happen and it is understood that one day each of us will come face to face with the whole truth and each one will have to deal with what they have or have not done. You see on that day what your neighbor did will not be so important but that day is not here yet, still it calls out to my soul.

What if once the pain and frustration of your private life being exposed has subsided you begin to see God’s footsteps for your life, knowing His opinion is the only one that matters and what once was slander now becomes freedom because other’s opinions simply doesn’t matter anymore. What if the very thing the enemy was using to cut you down God made a stepping stool so you could see clearly above the crowd? If all these things happened to you would you be more inclined to share what is in your heart? Knowing if people are that interested in your life, they should at least hear it from you.

I believe in telling the truth in love, for it will not be of gain if I cannot learn to do that. Once I hurt someone, their heart’s door will be closed to whatever I have to say. However, I also believe it is better for us to step into the light of our own free-will than to be exposed to the light while working in the darkness.

(Matthew 6:22-23 GNB) "The eyes are like a lamp for the body. If your eyes are sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eyes are no good, your body will be in darkness. So if the light in you is darkness, how terribly dark it will be!

That being said there are still thoughts, ideas, struggles, habits, temptations, and sin in my life that I do not share in whole because there is an enemy and he uses these things to build walls, to divide, and conquer. Therefore, I do not want to provide him the means to build a stronghold in my life but I can tell you each time I write in this journal I have either come through or battling or about to enter what I wrote about. Even Paul, though he spoke of sin and struggles in his own life did not offer details – read 1 Timothy 1:15, Romans 7:18, Hebrews 12:1. Sin is not always easily seen, some of the worse sin happens within and therefore cannot be judged by anyone but God. Still we are told to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another (James 5:16) and the person willing to open up to you and pray with you that person is trustworthy because he/she knows and is obedient to God’s Word. So I tell you I am open about my life with the reader and I can tell you there are certain things I know about the reader such as what country they are from, such as United States, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Poland, France, United Kingdom, and many others and I also know which post gets the most hits or how many hits my blog gets in a day, week, or month but more importantly I pray for you almost every morning and though I don’t know who you are God does. He knows what you are going through, He knows where you’ve been, and He knows what is to come and so I encourage you to open up to others about what God is doing in your life. Be willing to tell them how you struggle, make it real, and make God’s goodness known. In this way you will encourage others to open up as well. Many times I wonder if I have said too much and sometimes I have removed something I posted, if God leads me to do that but I am more concerned fear will keep me from posting something God says to share and He reminds me that He’ll take care of everything else.