Hypocrisy, ὑπόκρισις;
"Jealous" "play-acting", "acting out", "coward" or "dissembling".
I'm sorry for my hypocrisy. I'm sorry that I've led out a life that hardly represents who God whats me to be. But thats the beauty in Christ, He takes all that we are and turns it into everything He wants it to be. I'm still in the process, and all I have to say is sorry.
We are delivered from sin, but not the presence of it. As Christians, we are not under dominion to sin, but we are called to overcome that through our New Nature (Romans 6, anyone?) So of course sin has no dominion over us, Christ does. However, that does not stop us from falling into sin.. We live in this fallen world, in fallen bodies. But somehow God chose us from the very beginning to be His chosen people, that through us He might be glorified. So I am a saint of Christ, as Paul considers the believers throughout the New Testament. Think of the church of Corinth in the bible. There were reports of pride, sexual immorality, abusing of spiritual gifts, misunderstanding of Christian doctrines - and yet when Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, he addressed them, ".. to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints..." although they were in sin. We can't ignore the sin our lives like it's not happening because it is. You can't tell me you don't sin, that would be a lie... which is a sin. We are in Christ, and we are definitely dead to our old nature, sin has no dominion over us, but we do not lie and delude ourselves when we sin.
When I sin, I do not run away and try to cover it up. God definitely knows better, and His light will shine the truth on every single dark and dusty corner. When sin occurs, it gives us a chance to run all the more to God, knowing that His grace and mercy welcomes us every step of the way. The Devil might try to remind us how shameful our past or our sin was, BUT the image of Christ on the cross serves to remind us how great and how wide His love for us is, and how his amazing grace cleanses us from all iniquities and sorrows!
"If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." See, I'm done with this pretense and this lie, I'm done with myself. “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
The word of God is a powerful thing, sharper than a double-edged sword. Tonight I was in church and suddenly the thought just came - What if, Hannah, you lived on the very word of God? What if it became your bread, your water, your breath, your thoughts - What if the Word of God became the very substance of your being? It rang through my head over and over again, What if the He became the very substance of my being? What if I lived exactly to His word, and became what He was; no more just a clanging cymbal or a noisy gong? What if He became my very substance?!
Jesus said the most important commandment is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."
What does it mean by loving Him with ALL our heart and soul? It means no longer letting it run astray to meet idols and welcome distractions - Man's Heart, its the essence of his soul, is the part of man which decides how he will respond to what he has learned through his spirit, soul and body. It is the single most precious thing that you could ever choose to give to the Father. Soul is the term that describes our inner nature. Heart is that deepest, most innermost part – your control center – that decides what is important to you; and then radiates that out into your soul, mind, and strength. That is why it was first in the list; and why God has to be your “first love”.
I think that part where it says, "... with all your MIND" is the part that is often overlooked by many. What does it even mean to love God with all your mind..? I believe loving Him with all your mind is when He becomes the absolute centre of your thoughts. When you're daydreaming during the day? Every waking thought, every random thought during the day, everything you think of before you sleep - What does it mean to love God with All Your Mind? Think about it.. What do you think of the most? When you love a person, your mind constantly runs off to think about that person, and nearly every thought is dominated by that person. What would that person think of me doing this/that, what if that person could see me now, what can I do for that person... Jesus?
And loving Him with all our heart, and all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength - it leads to one thing. It leads to HIM being the very substance of WHO WE ARE, the substance of that which we breathe in and breathe out and eat and drink and live and have our very being. He said it, and I'll believe it, it is possible for me to love Him with all I have.. But for now; word of God, speak into my life, make it so real to me, change me and transform me into all You want me to be. For now; Spirit of the living God, cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean, restore to me the joy of your salvation. I'm tired of this life, and I was made for so much more than this sickening hypocrisy - I'm glad that in Christ, there is no condemnation or guilt.
See, if life was perfect, would you still know God? If you had everything you could ever want to have and more, would there be any room for God to work in your life? Its through all the dry valleys that you know He's there, even when He seems so far off - He's not. Believe it.
“Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” {Luke 12:21}
This is it, for now. Honest words.
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