sharing freedom

have you ever had a splinter that you just couldn't get out? you poke and pry and pull and peroxide... but it's just not coming out. eventually it stops hurting. the skin starts growing over. you forget about it.

but it's still there. and eventually... it rears it's ugly head.

sin is like that. not too long ago i heard someone speaking about "unconfessed sin". needing to repent of it, and leave it at the foot of the cross. i honestly couldn't get my mind around the concept. how could you hang on to an unconfessed sin? why would you do that? who wants that junk?

why? because sometimes you can't admit where you've been. and last week, that's where i found myself. God gave me abundant time to spend with Him, and it was incredible. knowing that He was working in my life, in my heart... plowing ground and refreshing my spirit. and then He plowed something that was so deep, i hadn't thought of it in years. so deep that i had convinced myself it wasn't a big deal. so deep i had forgotten it was even there. but it was.

but guess what... it's not anymore. [can i get an amen?]

it was such an amazing experience for me... it left me thinking about a lot of things. i've been blessed with opportunities to really experience God. to fall to my knees in His undeniable presence. it's mind boggling that He would meet me where i am. and it's tempting to stay there with Him. there is certainly no better place on this earth that one can be... it makes me think about peter on the mount of transfiguration...Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." [matthew 17:4]

but that's not what the Lord was calling him to do... that's not what He calls us to do. at some point He's going to call us off of that mountain so that we can get back to work. no doubt, the emotion of experiencing God first hand IS incredible, but this has to be tempered with study and knowledge and the wisdom that comes only from Him... the wisdom to discern those things that are of God and those things that are not.

these experiences are incredible. it's the good stuff. divine appointments. and i can't get enough. yet i know that it's my study that has led me into a deeper relationship with God... not moving from one ecstatic experience to another. the better i know Him, the more often i find Him revealed in His Word and through prayer... the more intimate my experiences are with Him. the more sensitive i am to His whisperings. the mountaintop is for us. it's a refueling station of sorts, and i PRAISE HIM that gives us these opportunities. yet we have to remember that it's not all about personal edification... it's not about staying on the mountain... because sometimes He's going to call us into the trenches.

He's calling us, Church. He's calling us to take His Word into this lost and dying world. to show His unconditional love to those who need it most. love without strings attached. not an ad campaign to come to our church... just pure, unadulterated, extreme, love. the love of Christ. the love of this God that would carry my burden. my shame. my sin. that would meet me in my living room... and offer me freedom. freedom!

He wants us to share His freedom, the only real freedom there is, with this world. there's an urgency in His voice... "tell them i LOVE them"... can you hear it? He's calling us. He's calling me. He's calling you.

and i guess what i want to know is... who's in?