Warts and All
A comical saying by a precious “mama” in the Lord is, “Well, Jesus loves me, warts and all”. There is much truth in that funny little statement.
I remember my Grandbuddy “thinking” he had to be perfect before he could come to Jesus. Okay, what’s wrong here? If you were perfect….why would you need a Savior? You wouldn’t. Jesus expects us to come to Him as we are. Warts and all. The filth of the world covers our lives, along with the stench of sin. He takes us into His arms and cleanses us right then and there, as we bow before Him in our repentant state. We are now clean.
In a recent sermon by Pastor Potter, I realized he was hitting some very thought lines I had been having. Allow me to share.
Sometimes we think like Naaman. Surely, I must do something great to be freed from this disease called sin! Surely, it can’t be as simple as “dipping” in a river. But surely it is. As simple as calling on the name of Jesus and immersing our lives into His life, as His blood covers our sins. We are cleansed.
To view Naaman as a man and great commander of the king’s army, resplendent with his “finery” which I am sure he was clothed, you might not be aware of the disease that was eating away his flesh. He hid it daily. But underneath all the trappings of his job….lurked a disease that was taking his life. A disease that would soon make him an outcast. Apparently only his household knew.
The simple instructions of the great prophet must have seemed ridiculous to him. But the servants of Naaman thought otherwise.
“Naaman’s servants went to him and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 2Kings 5:13
With that, Naaman did as the prophet instructed….and low and behold….he was healed! His skin was restored and he was made whole.
How many of us hide something within our hearts and lives everyday. Thinking that no one knows. I am sure that it is guarded so well that people that see us don’t know, but what about the Holy Spirit? What prompts us to hide it? There must be a layer of guilt. Why else would we hide? (Think about Adam and Eve here.) Undoubtedly, we know that it is sin.
I remember times in my own life, caught up in things I had no business in, but yet trying for all I could to hide it—-even thinking I was hiding it from God. But I could not hide from God, nor could I hide it from myself. You can fool some of the people, some of the time….but there is no fooling God. Just go ahead and bring it on out! God knows….and pretty soon, mama will too!
We go about day after day, pasting on a smile, covering our tracks, making sure no one can see the scar, the limp, the loss. All the things in our lives that sin has caused or is causing. Thinking of my daughter (she gave me permission to use her), and the lengths she went to in order that we, nor any member of our family, would know the extent of her sin. We might not have known with our “physical mind”, but my heart knew. Sin was taking it’s toll on her life.
We cover the outside, but God sees the inside. Only when we allow Him to peel away the layers and reveal the condition of our hearts, as He pours in His healing ointment of forgiveness, do our wounds heal. But as long as it is kept hidden and secret, the enemy continues to destroy our lives. Revealing the ugliness of our sin to the Lord, closes the door firmly on the enemy. Slam!
Once we are covered by the blood of the Lamb of God, the enemy can no longer use that against us. It’s not a secret. We can talk about our “warts” or problems freely with the Lord. We no longer feel the need to hide. We are under His covering. His protection! We are His child! He loves us—-warts and all!
‘See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that runs away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.’ Hebrews 3:12-13
Father in heaven, today we need to make sure there is nothing hidden. Nothing that the enemy can use against us. Open our hearts to Your word. Reveal to us any area of our lives that we have neglected to have You “cover”. We hide nothing, we hold nothing back. We give it all to You today. Free us from all unrighteousness. So that we can live freely, emersed daily in Your Holy Spirit. I don’t want anything to hinder my walk with you. In the awesome name of Jesus, we give You glory for all that You have done, all that You are doing and all that You have planned to do in our lives—Amen—Hallelujah!
Trusting Him,
Great post, bless you.
This is so beautiful and exactly right on. How often we let a sin in and think we are hiding it when all the while its ugliness is showing on our face.
Oh Angie,
I just want to run to my bible and read this scripture today. This is a wonderul application. Well done!
Wonderful post!
Thanks for sharing.
Amen to that, Angie. I know that I am not always walk the straight line. I know that I stumble. I am glad that He still covers me; I have to confess and turn from that sin…with His help.
Thank you so much for sharing your heart, my friend…what ya’ know – my ‘anti-spam’ word is “grace”…