“The danger with our brokenness is that either we tend to ignore it, missing the ways it guides and governs our lives, or else we accept our feelings as a bare fact, assuming what we feel is the voice of God. . . . Only the truth about who God is can lead us into freedom. True life is found in the presence of a holy God in reality and not in the fantasy of our flesh.”- Kyle Strobel and John Coe
Kyle Strobel and John Coe conclude Chapter 5 of When God Seems Distant as they stress that passion fails to transform our character. Above all, when excitement wanes, our character emerges. Thus, passion serves as the place we turn to so that we can ignore the truth of our character. Because then we feel stuck in reverse.
As a result, we often fail to pause and really understand our feelings. Consequently, our guilt, shame, fear, anxiety, anger, or sadness easily govern us. Furthermore, these feelings then color what we think and what we assume. Hence, we often assume that these feelings convey accurate messages about who we are, who God is, and what fixing our lives looks like.
So, we try to domesticate God rather than laying our life before Him. But, Kyle and John stress, only Christ can:
- bear the weight of your life.
- meet you in the truth of your guilt and shame, fear and anxiety, and anger and sadness.
- transform the deep places in and by His love.
- expose you to your strategies to avoid Him while at the same time holding His arms of love open to you.
In conclusion, Kyle and John counsel:
“We need to meet the Lord in the truth of what is going on within ourselves — and let him and his truth inform, convict, and forgive us in reality. We need to draw near as we really are so that we can receive him as he really is.”
Today’s question: What do you see as the danger with our brokenness? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Bear our crosses and follow him”