Truth & Denial
Facing truth requires courage, humility and knowledge of the truth.
Courage because the truth exposes imperfections and the horror of your shortcomings and wrong moves.
Humility to embrace your identity as a person who comes up short.
Knowledge of the truth found in the scriptures, which requires focus and effort.
Denial is Natural
Denial appeals to our strong ability to make ourselves in our “own image”.
Denial give you control, or at least the allusion of control.
Denial provides comfort, or at least short term comfort.
Denial feeds your ego.
When we are honest and raw with ourself about ourself we often are afraid that we will be exposed as a fraud. The fear of being exposed initiates our inner control to control the narrative that we preach to ourself.
Denial + Unforgiveness + Hurt
This combo numbs our soul and stunts our growth in becoming more Christlike. It’s easy to recount every time someone has let you down. As we remember hurts we put down our injurer. By putting others down, we congratulate ourselves on being better than that person. This inflates our ego.
Denial creates a distorted reality which makes forgiveness foreign and elevates myself as the standard.
Let Jesus Tear Down The Idol of Yourself
If you allow him, Jesus will tear down the idol of yourself. A painful war will ensure that will reshape you in the image of Jesus Christ.
Pride erodes as you face a painful reckoning of your short comings. That stirs up feelings of depressing, being overwhelmed and anxious.
This crushes people and denial makes a counter claim to truth & Jesus. It lies with some truth. You can appease depression, being overwhelmed and being anxious by determining what truth you forget and what truths you remember.
Pain, Glory, Patience
Pain
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be confirmed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I saw to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly that he ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” - Romans 12: 1 -3 English Standard Verisoun.
Do I have the courage to face pain with God’s help?
Do I have the strength to reject the lie that I can avoid pain and also not hurt others or myself?
Glory
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” - Galatians 1:10 English Standard Version
Am I willing to entrust my reputation to God?
Am I making choices that defend God’s glory?
Patience
“From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.” - Isaiah 64:4
Do I trust God’s timeline?
God sometimes requires that we
wait patiently
seek his perspective
embrace his solution.
I was blind to the hurt that was heaped on those closest to me when I lived in denial. When we lie to ourselves, others have to live with the truth of who we are and we turn into ego maniacs who believe that they are normal and humble.
Instead of giving Jesus the reigns to crush our stubborn behavior, I avoided painful situations and ultimately transfer that crushing action onto others. It’s entice to turn away from religious people turn to isolation or rebuild your network to people who do not challenge you biblically.
When we isolate, we forego the wonderful protection and wisdom of participating in the kingdom of God. We wast time and our soul shrivles.
God uses pain to produce something beautiful in me. When I remind myself of God’s goodness and that he wants to change me, this helps me move forward with courage and confidence.
I operate best when I face each day as a challenge, trusting that God will string it together for his purposes. We don’t need to be afraid or anxious.
When I find myself anxious, it's often rooted in my ability to trust myself. Then I pray to ask God to do what I want. Sometimes he does meet my requests and sometimes he says “I got this” and I have to let go of my hurt, pain and uncertainty. I simply have to focus on him to the exclusion of everything else.
