Keep making me

Ever let your mind wonder to what you would be, could be, should be?  Ever dream of this awesome job with really good pay, getting out of debt, being in the best shape of your life, having a personal chef?  Lent is a season of reflection, going out into a spiritual desert to take a deeper look at who we are (or whose we are) and who we're called to be. When was the last time you actually peeled back those layers or looked under the masks that we feel like we have to wear because we don't fit in or we're not good enough the way we are?  What about the masks we wear because we're scared to let others see the real 'ME'?  Or what about the scary thought that we don't know the real me?  These are all questions that we have to ask every now and again to give ourself a good gut check! Who are you? Do you let the world define you? Do you define yourself by the way your clothes fit or by how much you ate yesterday?  What about defining yourself by the fact that your funny or intelligent, or not?!  There are so many things that we desire to be, yet are too afraid to define ourselves for what we really are.  We spend so much time trying masks on that we forget what our face looks like!  

As Lent approaches its end and Easter is on the horizon, let's first pause to remember Good Friday!  Good.  Friday.  What happens on Good Friday?  Crucifixion.  How can someone crucified be classified as Good?  A roman torture device turned into the ultimate symbol of love.  A man laid his life down so that you might have life and have it abundantly! Scripture tells us that "no greater love than this for a man to lay down his life for a friend" WoW. He was beaten, spit on, denied; our biggest fears come true, rejection. He did this for you! Why won't the young boy walk up to the girl and ask her to dance? Rejection.  Why won't someone tryout for the soccer team? Rejection. Why don't we raise our hands to answer questions in class that we know the answer to? Fear of failure resulting in rejection.  I could go on; what about the masks that fit so tight we have forgotten who we have become?  They're weightless and sometimes invisible until we are able to step back and reflect.  

Each of us desires intimacy (in-TO-me-SEE). We want someone to look so deep inside of us and tell us that we're not broken beyond repair, trash, worthless, or unloveable. We desire to be seen, known, and loved beyond reason or measure, and we seek this love everywhere.  Yet we believe the lies listed above because it's easier to wear a mask than to face the truth.  There's a great Sidewalk Prophets song called "Keep Making Me".  It asks to be made broken, to empty themselves, to make them lonely; all to break away from masks of pride, vanity, and other things that hide their true selves.  

When was the last time you looked for intimacy at the crucifix?  Not just at the cross, but the crucifix where Jesus hung for you? Where he opened his arms and said "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do"? He offers us forgiveness, compassion, mercy and ultimately all of his love, but will you accept this gift?  When was the last time you approached the crucifix without a mask on?  Or what about approaching the cross with your masks on, but having the courage to leave them right there with Jesus?  He wants them, he desires them, he desires you.  He tells us "come to me all who are burdened and I will give you rest".  

Are your masks weighing you down, are you willing to set them aside to be seen? The masks that are too heavy to wear, the broken pieces from the mask you had to use a chisel to get off?  When you are ready, he is waiting.  As a true gentlemen always ready to come in to save you, but he will wait for you to invite him in.  You desire intimacy because you were created in the image and likeness of God, you are created for love, for true in-to-me-see.  

Lent is the perfect time to reflect on the masks that have been in your wardrobe lately and to make the active decision to lay them down at the foot of the cross.  No matter how far away, no matter what mask you put on the Lord tells Samuel "I do not see as Man sees, the appearance, I see the heart." Will you let the world see your beautiful heart as God does?  First, take off the mask(s), look into the mirror and see our own heart as Christ does.  See the person he died for on the cross, the person that he laid down his life for so that we may have life and have it abundantly.  

Your heart is crying out to be known, to be seen in such a way that peace surpasses all understanding. Sometimes we have to lose ourselves to be found, but a wise person once told me that we have to put ourselves in a position to be found. Come in from the desert, from the mindless wondering, and put yourself at the foot of the cross; allow the masks to fall off like drops of water in Niagra falls. Will you lay them down on Good Friday and walk out of the grave with Jesus on Easter Sunday?

 "above all else my purpose remains, the art of losing myself and bringing you praise...my heart and my soul I give you control, consume me from the inside out" -Hillsong United From the Inside Out

--Live Jesus--

i Thirst

i Thirst.

Our bodies are created of 70% water, and most of us will agree that throughout the day at some point we are thirsty; thirsty for water, thirsty for life, thirsty for adventure, thirsty for fulfillment.  What is it that you long for? What is it that you fill yourself up with? This world has so many things that we can fill ourselves up with, many of which will leave us feeling even more empty or unfulfilled than before.  Have you ever had a craving, or a thirst, and searched high and low to quench it?  Like for example, some mornings I wake up and can't wait to get to work because there is coffee at work and I know that coffee will kickstart my day, only to be left feeling empty as I grab my cup to take a sip and it's already gone!  Our lives are often the same way, we feel as if we need something to make us 'feel' better or feel like something, that we are not enough.  

The truth is that we aren't enough.  Each of us are created with a God-shaped hole inside of us that needs to be filled by its Creator, and until it is, until we realize what life is worth, we are torn between drowning beneath the waves or dying from thirst.  It took me many years to realize my true thirst is for something that is unquenchable, my true thirst is for love; it is to be known and to be loved. When we are known and loved we experience this confidence, this truth that allows us to become the person that God has meant us to be. 

"To be known is to be loved and to be loved is to be known"

Yet love is not unquenchable, but should be sought out on a daily basis.  Relationships work because we put time into them, we sacrifice, we know that love is not about who we are or what we will become.  "Love is patient, love is kind, it is NOT jealous, it is NOT pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love NEVER fails" 1 Corinthians 13:4-8  We thirst because we are thirsty for love, we are disappointed or are left thirsty when we receive anything besides this.  

A great story that demonstrates this love and this thirst is the story of the woman at the well.  Ashamed and dubbed an outcast she went to the well at midday because she knew she wouldn't have to face the looks or condemnations of others.  How many times in life do we base our feelings or our 'happiness' on others?  On how they see us or how their day went?  We are all sinners, and until we accept that fact it's going to be hard to go forward.  We don't have to be sinners, but our fallen nature is surrounded by sin and our culture today is submersed in it.  Hollywood paints ideas of fantasies in our heads of what love should be, what relationships should look like, but they conveniently leave out the sacrifices necessary to love.  They paint the picture that love is messy, and yes sometimes it can be, but ultimately love is simple.  Love becomes complicated because we are a selfish people.  We often are self-seeking instead of self-denying.  Jesus was the master of self-denial.  It's not that he always wanted to (check garden of Gethsemane), but he knew that his purpose in this life was to love, to love even unto the point of death.

Right before Jesus died on the cross he said "I thirst".  He thirsts!  Just as you and I thirst!  He thirsted for Heaven, to be reunited with his Father, to unite ALL of us to himself.  He thirsts FOR YOU.  Yes, I said it, for you.  In 1 John 4:8 it says that "God is love" and if God is love, then God is patient and God is kind.  God is waiting for you at the well to give you living water, the question is are you ready to receive it? Are you ready to drink of this living water or will you continue to drink from other wells in your life?  I promise, because he first promised, that when you are ready to drink of this living water he will give it to you! 

Seek him.  Ask for the water to quench your thirst, that you may seek truth, goodness, and beauty in your life. That is his desire for you, that you may no longer be lost, or ashamed, or guilty, but that you may be set free!!!!