Walk With Me...: How's that working for you?

I recently had the opportunity to attend a Christian Leadership Conference a couple of weeks ago, and the instructor raised an interesting question, "What are some things that cause us to lose our intimacy with God?" One of the attendees gave a very blunt and honest answer and said, “fear that He’ll change me and mess up my regularly-scheduled-programming.” A few people laughed, some even slapped hands in agreement….but the instructor just smiled and asked, "but how's that working for you?"

"In some weird, twisted kind of way, we like living in our junky, smelly, mess."

This convo might have made you chuckle, but the dialogue was beyond true. It's so crazy how one of our greatest hesitations as it pertains to our relationship with Christ is the fear that He'll change us. I mean, but that's the point isn't it? To transform and renew our minds? To become more like Christ? I mean that is why we gather at church on Sunday, or if we're really fancy come out to Bible Study to get a mid-week fix? It's all worship and praise when we meet "collectively" but the fun suddenly stops when God wants to get personal. Why is that? Why is it so hard for us to open the door and invite God to come and clean all the junk and clutter building up in our hearts? You know what I think? .....I think it's so hard because.....we like it. In some weird, twisted kind of way, we like living in our junky, smelly, mess.

Sooooo #honestyhour, I'm not exactly the neatest person. I tend to store things instead of throwing them away and as a result my room tends to get a little (a lotta) cluttered. But here's the funny thing....I know exactly where everything is. It may not look right, but despite all that mess, I'm still able to function in it. I tend to get comfortable in the clutter. Was it my ideal way of having my room look? Of course not, but it worked for me....that is....until it became unbearable.

"We've become so accustom to living in junk that we've somehow convinced ourselves that that's actually how we want to live."

Don’t frown up your nose at my junky room lol. Especially when some of us right now should be signing waiver forms for TLC's show "Hoarders" for all of the crap that we have stored up around our hearts! We're so used to living in clutter that we don't even recognize how disconnected we are in our relationship with Christ. Our mess brings a sense of comfort. A sense of familiarity. It may not be our ideal way of life, but at least we know how everything plays out. No, I'm not growing at my job, but it pays the bills. No, I'm not gaining anything from this relationship, but I’m tired of being lonely. No, I'm not satisfied with where I am with life, but it’s easier to live this way. We've become so accustom to living in junk that we've somehow convinced ourselves that that's actually how we "want" to live. But here's the truth....after awhile you can't function in all that clutter. There is no such thing as organized chaos when it comes to our relationships with Christ. He’s not the God of confusion, but He’s the God of peace.

"We say we want God, but we don't want the change that inevitably comes with Him."

We want to be able to "hear from God" or "know God’s will” for our lives, but God can't even make it through the front door because our lives are just too piled up with junk. At some point we have to make a decision. Either continue to live in the clutter, or allow God to come in and clean house. God will never be able to be Lord over our lives if we have a million-and-one other things that are already taking up residence in our hearts. Yeah the cleaning process is going to cause you to throw away things you've been holding on to for years or to break old habits. And yeah it may even cause you to cut ties with someone you've been clinging to for what seems like forever, but we have to learn to stop giving out “ALL ACCESS” passes to the matters pertaining to our hearts. We say we want God, but we don't want the change that inevitably comes with Him. You can't have Christ and not change. Point blank. So instead we just continue to do things our way and only enjoy the bare minimum of this "abundant" life that Christ came to offer. I mean that's cool I guess....but just curious...how's that working for you?

-Leah

Bible Study

For more information on this topic, check out the following scriptures: