“He who loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and will show myself to him.” Jn 14:21
Jesus promises to make Himself known to us, to disclose Himself, to reveal Himself, to manifest Himself in us…but how? Jesus illuminates “the how” when He explains that when we truly love Him, He gives us the third person of the God-head to reside within us: “But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into ALL truth (not partial truth or veiled truth, but comprehensive reality). He will not speak on His own; He will only speak what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come (profound discernment and insight of what will arise and become known). He will bring glory to Me by taking what is Mine and making it known to you. ALL that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you.” Jn. 16:13-15
When we read this verse and ponder its implications, we would be totally NUTS not to commit 120%! ~~So why then by our actions and attitudes do we carelessly cast God aside in our relationships and “things of this life”?
God promises to make us into someone we cannot possibly make on our own. Jesus desires to change us, conform us and bless us will ALL He is…but the hinge is, we have to be willing. I have to desire to be altered! Knowing our obstinate nature, God lovingly allows us to feel His absence by allowing us to come to the end of our talented self-reliance. (e.g. 1Cor. 5:5 as a more extreme illustration)
Personally, I have experienced this kind of breaking 3 significant times in my life, once in my mid-20’s, again in my late 30’s, and then once more in my young 40’s. Each time, I had my fingers wrapped around some “thing” in my life, and God had to break each finger of my hands in order to pry loose my grip, only to have my fingers heal and re-grip something else. In my 20’s it was a control issue after losing a dear friend in college (which manifested itself as an eating disorder); in my 30’s it was my Bay Area life (in general) and our business (in specific); and in the year 2000, it was a lust struggle (which died rather easily because I was so open and honest with my Shaun, and because Shaun’s the only man I have ever loved physically or been in love with emotionally). Each of the 3 scenarios began as a gift of God, but somewhere along the way, God decided to change course. Instead of yielding to His promptings, I chose to grip “the thing”, rationalizing that the “this” was God’s will for me. But instead of being God’s will of blessing for me, the “this” became my own self-induced penitentiary.
Finally after the 3rd significant ‘breaking of Betsy’, I said “uncle”. And since then, I consciously choose to aggressively pursue my relationship with God as the highest priority in my day to day life. This does NOT mean that life is now void of trials or heartache, quite to the contrary actually. Trials and heartache are constantly knocking at the door of my heart, mind and physical life! The difference is that now, I ask Jesus if He will please answer the door.
~~And talk about the grand adventure! … You, like Shaun and me, will be astounded by the illumination and the blessing He continues to pour into and onto those He calls His!
So today, let’s determine to kiss self good-bye for good, and embrace all that awaits us in Jesus! He is so faithful.
God bless you,
Shaun and Betsy
