The Sacrifice of Transformation

"Truth or reality is avoided when its painful. We can revise our maps only when we have the discipline to overcome that pain. To have such discipline, we must be totally dedicated to truth. That is to say we must always hold truth, as best we can determine it, to be more important, more vital to our self-interest, than our comfort. Conversely, we must always consider our personal discomfort relatively unimportant and, indeed, even welcome it in the service of the search for truth. Mental health is an ongoing process of dedication to reality at all costs."

I read this today and nothing has more accurately described my desire for the pursuit of freedom in God. This. This is how I'm determined to live. Once I got a real taste of truth, I discovered a freedom I didn't know existed. I found myself. And a love so pure, it overwhelmed me. The weight that lifted off was indescribable. The joy and peace that flooded me was something I'd searched for all my life. It changed me and how I saw the world. In my quest for freedom I found pain was inevitable. If I truly wanted to fix those broken places, fill them with God, it was going to hurt sometimes. It meant being brave enough to look at what broke me. Dig deep, hold on, and accept the pain as a means of cleansing. God had a plan. The highs and lows were all there to teach me something. Accepting that changed my life. I learned a lot of new coping skills. Healthy ones this time. And the skills I obtained are helpful, especially in crazy times like we currently seem to be in. Because the truth is freedom. And freedom gives us straight access to Gods joy, peace, and love. It deepens our relationship and trust in Him. Freedom creates a place for a deeper knowing and understanding of God. It makes our walk seem less heavy. It leads to more authenticity and less shame. It transforms you into your truest self. Freedom is powerful enough to change your life. It changed my life! I want to be dedicated to truth, even when it hurts, because I know beautiful things come from that pain.

I think God is using this time to do such a work in us all right now. We are home, sheltered, being cleansed and, if we let Him, changed. We should walk out of this modern passover different. Different in that we know God, and ourselves, better. Different in that we have more fire, more excitement, more worship. We need to be renewed. We need to have heart changes. We need chains broken. Lies dispelled. We need to find the dormant places of our spirits that need life again. We need to be different.

Most of our world's have stopped spinning and we're just kind of waiting. Its a little scary, seemingly uncertain, and very uncomfortable. It's really just us, and God. All we can do is cling to Him, and wait it seems. This is hard when we're used to so much hustle and distraction. God talks all the time, but when we're so busy we tend to only listen to the good stuff. With so much time on our hands it seems God has things to say about our inner selves that need work. The stuff we dont really want to look at or deal with. The stuff we avoid. The painful stuff. So, we're all hurting over something right now. All of us. And it's hard. Its bringing out things we haven't looked at in years. Its highlighting our faults and struggles. Its showing us where we're broken. And it's hard.

But church, maybe this hurt has purpose. Maybe the pain has a reason, a lesson. Maybe our discomfort is God trying to show us where we need His healing touch. Where we need truth and freedom. Maybe we should take this time to seek that truth and healing. I pray we let it happen. We cry when it hurts, give it to God, and let Him transform the places we're broken. We smile when we're happy and give God thanks. We look at our pain and let healing come. We trust the plan of God in our lives. It's going to be hard and scary even. It'll feel unfamiliar and strange. But we must change, and grow, and become more like Jesus. Because, church, we NEED to be more like Jesus. The world needs Him. And we have to give it all we've got to show them His love. Our transformation is powerful. Its testimony of what He can do. Of truth. Of love. Of freedom. We get blessed, He gets the glory. But we must be willing to let it happen. Surrender, repent, change. That's how we show them Jesus. By our story. By being different.

That's our ministry.