"But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible."
Ephesians 5:13-14
Ephesians 5:13-14
I have often thought about what it would be like if
there were no secrets, no hidden areas in our lives.
If what we thought about
in the quietness of our minds played out in real life...
What might that look
like?
Imagine you are in a darkened room. In the room are
grotesquely shaped sculptures, sharp objects hanging from the ceiling, piles of
junk on the floor, and old furniture to stumble into. In the dark, it is
possible to imagine that the room is really "O.K." But light would
reveal an ugly scene indeed; and then there could be no more pretending!
Wouldn't the truth to our "eye" be a better kind of pain than that of
stumbling, groping around in such a room? With the light on, everything would
be exposed; the room could be navigated without harm; it could be cleaned up;
and there might also be things of value and beauty in the room that could be
seen and used. If the light comes on, do we welcome the truth or rush to
"turn it off"; do we receive it, even though it may hurt?
John 12:46 (NIV) "I [Jesus] have come into the
world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in
darkness."
We are not made to hide from things; in fact the things
that we hide from end up causing the most pain, confusion and uncertainty.
I know that in my life, I have been guilty of ignoring
that big, fat, stinky elephant in the room.
The blaring problem, which was so obvious but because fear of speaking the truth, I suffered the consequences and kept silent.
OR
The personal growth that I have hindered within myself because of my unwillingness to address the 'fat elephant' in the room out of fear that I may hear the truth.
A couple of years ago I sang on worship team at church. One night we were rehearsing for the upcoming weekend and everyone in attendance kept asking, “What is that
smell? It smells awful!!!”
Soon, I realized that my hands had retained the smell from the food
I had been cooking for our Easter meal earlier in the day.
I knew where the smell was coming from. I just didn't want to own up to it.
I also realized that no matter how embarrassing or silly it seemed, I needed to come clean and tell everyone that I was the stinky one.
After letting people go on and on about the smell I finally admitted that the smell was coming from me.
I was the smelly one!!!!
Later I found out that everyone already knew that I was the one to blame, but didn’t want to say anything because they didn't want to
hurt me. No one wanted to address
the real problem because of some potentially hurtful consequences.
So everyone tip toed around the thing that was so distracting.
Now this is just a silly example but it
is something that is so easy to do with the big, painful and even devastating
things in our lives.
I am guilty of this very thing.
In my marriage, this behavior kept my husband and I from truly reaching
one another's hearts for years. I knew things
were not right and so did he; but without bringing our struggles, hurts, and
even sin into the light each of us fought our battles alone.
We fooled ourselves into believing that we
could hide away the “elephant” which was tearing us apart.
We bought into the lie that if we didn’t
talk about it then magically it didn’t exist. To top it off we even fooled
ourselves to believe that God was okay with us keeping things in the dark, so
that we wouldn’t have to endure such pain.
This pattern of behavior squashes relationship and promotes unhealthy behavior in those we love.
Often the things people say and do affect our lives negatively but we tip toe around the real issue so that their feelings are spared.
All the while they don't understand that everyone knows they are the one stinkin' up the place.
Don't misunderstand me here. I would agree 100% that there is a time to speak and a time to be quiet (Eccl. 3:7). We need to prayerfully take our circumstance to the Lord.
Perhaps today you realize you are the person in the room that everyone is tip toeing around.
Maybe you have been avoiding having a hard conversation with someone because you are afraid the truth will hurt them.
For years you may have experienced loneliness and isolation, all because people are afraid to address the 'real' issues with you. Often it is so much easier for them to avoid, limit their time or simply not address the topics that are known to be 'touchy.'
At different points in all of our lives we experience situations where we would rather stumble around in the dark, simply out of fear of what we may find when we flip on the light.
Choose today to be different.
Choose today to flip on the light and let others in.
Give God permission to come clean up those areas that have been hidden by the darkness.
Bring what you have kept hidden into the light.
Doing this will require you to communicate with others.
There is freedom that comes with walking in a room without obstacles and that is brightly lit. The freedom is no longer stumbling on all of the junk laying around.
Doing this will require you to communicate with others.
There is freedom that comes with walking in a room without obstacles and that is brightly lit. The freedom is no longer stumbling on all of the junk laying around.
Be blessed.
