You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16
Sometimes I'm afraid to let my light shine because Im afraid of it getting blown out. So instead of letting it shine I hide it away. But what good can that do. That doesn't benefit anyone but myself. I just fear the freedom that comes with shining.
Freedom is an amazing thing, but it can also be disguised as a scary thing. I don't know why but sometimes we find comfort in the chains that bind us. We get used to them. When the chains are unbound we get fearful of them coming back. But they won't, they can't. They have already been paid for.
I saw a funny picture of fear yesterday. My little sister Journey was playing in the pool, and me and my mom were sitting on the side watching her. She has this big blow-up sea monster and she wanted to ride on it. She couldn't get on it herself so we pulled it to the side and I held it in place while my mom lifted her on top of it. When she finally got on it she burst out in tears because she was so afraid she was gonna fall off. Of course me and my mom both knew she was completely secure. Despite the fact that she had a built in life jacket in her bathing suit, and despite the fact that we were both there making sure she wasn't gonna fall, she was still terrified. So she just sat there and sobbed for about five minutes. Until she finally gave into her fear and climbed down.
I was thinking about it and I started to wonder if thats how God sees us. His children. No matter how much He confirms His love for us and shows us His protection, we still get scared and cry like babies. Until finally, we give into our fears and miss out on something that could have been really great. Even though He was holding us the whole time, telling us we were going to fine. We couldn't just trust Him and enjoy ourselves. We couldn't live in His freedom.
That is very true. A funny story, but such a picture of what it is like to live in fear.
ReplyDeleteYou and mommy could see the bigger picture. From where you were standing and with your knowledge you could see that she would, not only be fine, but also have a really fun time riding around on the sea monster.
But from the eyes of Journey, and with her knowledge all she could see were the bad things that could possibly happen.
Thats how it is with God. He sees us and the situations we are in so differently than we see them.
Thats why He tells us to have faith. Because we have to believe in things we cannot see from where we are.
I love you Kendall. You see truth in everything. Thanks for pointing it out!
i found you!! and i miss you.
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