In The Light

“Cross-examine me, O Lord, and see that this is so, test my motives and affections too. For I have taken your lovingkindness and your truth as my ideals.” (Psalm 26:2-3 TLB)

All the houses looked the same. Same floor plan, same color scheme, same furniture. Same cost, same mortgage, same HOA. Rules were made for the rules they’d chosen and rules of what to do if homeowners disobeyed. Everything and everyone must be alike.

Governments were formed in history to make people be all-alike. They must live the same, think the same, and never stray from it. God’s creation does not work that way. We are all different and yet, there is genetics, making us look similar. Arguments form over our differences, not arguments from God, and that should make us sit up. He’s made us like Himself, in His image and after His likeness, yet we have languages, upbringings, and appearances of all types. Get this: BECAUSE He is so varied. The Father is all these wonderful things we have individually. He is them all together.

We don’t have to be alike. That thinking is religion. We must believe the same Truth: Jesus is Savior, and He was born on this earth, lived here for 33 1/3 years, then laid down His life as the sacrifice for our sins. He was raised from death and made whole for our healing and to give us eternal life. Because He is healed, we are healed. We must believe this in order to be saved and become God’s children, part of His kingdom, but He doesn’t want us to become clones except in little Johnny doing that thing just like Dad. So cute. Outside of that, you can be you, and He loves that.

Sin brings condemnation. Darkness working in people, evil, if you will, causes offense and criticism and hatred and violence. All our motives and affections outside of God are wrong. If God is not in it, it isn’t worth pursuing. That’s the Truth of it. Way back in time, a few angels did what Satan did and chose to walk away from the Light. There is nothing left in them of His nature now. So, too, is humankind. When Adam chose sin, he lost his eyesight, spiritually speaking. Suddenly, he's embarrassed by what didn’t bother him, moments before (Genesis 3:8). We should have humility and morality over our nakedness now. That will not return to us, as some incorrectly believe. But what you need to see is Adam hiding from God, who knew where he hid.

We cannot hide from God. He knows all things, every thought and intent, every motive we have (Hebrews 4:12). We should, instead, walk in the Light, so that we can see where we misstep, and then seek Him for healing of all those thinking patterns which are wrong (1 John 1:7). Where our affections aren’t for Him, we lay that down at His feet. Where our motives are selfish, we seek Him for more understanding, more patience. He is our self-control. Fallen beings and sinful men have no self-control, or very little. In mankind, there are people who use self-denigration to control their urges, with both destructive and non-destructive behavior. But joy and peace with self-control and gentleness come only through the Father and through the Spirit who lives within us now (Galatians 5:22-23). To “let it all hang out” is to not be like Him, and to not care that you aren’t is to need a change of heart. Only God can change the heart and heal our thinking, only He can tear down strongholds we have clung to for safety (2 Corinthians 10:4). Understand, in ourselves, we think safety is found both in throwing all restrictions away or in creating too many. God is an equal balance. That’s the bottom line. He’s a just weight (Proverbs 16:11).

He is not only honorable behavior, but finding satisfaction in it, and in that, being who we are individually. God has set me free from many thought patterns. He never asked me to stop being Suzanne. In fact, He loves her just like she is. It is that darkness does not influence me now, that I can be more of myself and none of the woman which evil tried to destroy. In that I have found complete freedom.

“As you trust in God, may your fear be expelled and your hearts filled with joy and peace, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may be continually filled with hope.” (Romans 15:13, Remedy)

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

Photo by Miki Fath on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com