When discomfort comes

So… recently I had this medical procedure done. I chose to go forward with it in order that I might remove what had been both an uncomfortable to, at times, painful and unsightly part of me…When I chose to do this, I chose healing from my physical circumstances, freedom from pain, and a more beautiful version of me… actually it was returning my leg to how it was supposed to look. Post-procedure, I would be able to not worry with covering up my flawed area, and move more freely and less guarded. But, in going forward with this, I also was choosing all the risks that came along with the procedure and the temporary discomfort/ pain of the procedure. There would be some cutting and pulling out of what was not functioning as it should. (Sorry for the weak stomachs out there. These things tend to fascinate me.) There would also be a recovery period that involved that leg being physical bound for sometime, I had to give up a few things that I really enjoy for the healing to be completed. That leg looked much different post procedure that it did before, but not for the better…yet. It would take some time. There were some instructions to follow upon discharge to ensure the best possible outcome for me and I was to proceed in some areas with caution. I was given, via consent form, all this information when I signed on the line giving the doctor permission to move forward and do what he deemed best as he worked on me.

Ya’ll this is a little bit of what following Christ looks like. I am sure that anyone could pick this apart and find flaws in it as with any analogy…(they’re not all spot on. It’s a picture nonetheless.) He calls us and we come. Broken. Disfunctional. Uncomfortable before a holy God because our condition is flawed, unsightly, painful to us and those around us. And, we know it. Perhaps, in not so many words, but we know it. We’re walking around guarded from the next potential blow that might target our disfunctioning and sensitive spots. But God, through Christ, has provided a plan for healing to return us to the more beautiful version of us that He had in mind from the beginning and has given us an instruction manual on how to proceed, His Word. It's a process. It starts with repentance and belief in Jesus and He accomplishes the rest.

He exposes our sin and wounds to His healing hand and His Word that brings forth life through conviction. It stings like antiseptic to an open wound. It should. It’s part of the process. Then, there’s some pain that comes and goes in the process as He prunes away all that is not bearing fruit in us, however attached we may be to it. It may burn to our core, but we can trust it’s for our good. It’s the cutting away that will in time produce life. The sting and the burn…It’s part of coming to terms with the depth of our sin and the desperation we have for a Savior, through whom the only pardon of sin comes. We’re told that no one enters the Kingdom of Heaven accept he is born again…There’s birth pains. The squeezing we experience at the new birth can be likened to the squeezing of a baby as it passes through the birth canal… It aids in clearing the lungs that you might breathe in the breath of life. It’s the mother that takes on the ultimate pain of childbirth just as Christ took on Himself the pain and separation from the Father at Calvary. “The ‘cost(s)’ we pay is really no cost at all,” as a dear friend puts it.

There’s a new discomfort named humility that shows up in this process. It’s part of coming to freedom. So is the binding we experience of our broken hearts and the binding to Christ that initially seems to restrict our movement and activity, but, later, we learn that it's in the restricted places we have the most freedom in Christ as we walk in His righteousness, holy and set apart to Him! Scripture tells us that We receive His grace, His mercy, and His love that binds our broken hearts, casts out all fear that we might not have to walk around guarded, gives us sight into spiritual things we knew not of, and strength in our weakness.

There is this full gospel that gives way to the most exhilarating and, simultaneously, excruciating experience... to deny oneself daily and choose Christ. Christ gave all and as we receive Him and repent and believe on Him to be saved, we are in essence giving all as well. We are agreeing to no longer be lord over our lives but are signing over, so to speak, for Him to lead and do as He best sees fit for us and for His glory. Repentance is about turning away from sin, but not just from adultery and coveting and stealing... But also turning away from being our own God (idolatry in its most common and most easily undetectable form) and trusting Him at the helm of our lives steering us in the way we should go. And Jesus unabashedly shared all of this Gospel without guarding the hearers from its sting. He went straight to the point calling out the exact sin that the hearer was clinging to for life. The Word of God divides bone from marrow, soul from spirit. That’s uncomfortable. The gospel either offends or convicts. Jesus straight up shared the cost of being His disciple, being born again… Up front and unapologetically, in love, He told the rich young ruler to leave his wealth, he called the disciples to leave their careers, the woman at the well to turn away from the adultery, Abraham to leave his father’s land to go to a unknown place, Esther to go before the king…we could go on. At a glance, those may not move you. They may not resonate with your heart… But, how about understanding the message behind that… when we come to Christ, it’s Christ and Christ alone. There are to be no substitutes, no safety nets, no margins for error. It’s a turning away from where you put your hope, your trust, your security, your affirmation, your confidence, your faith, your identity, your fears, and placing all those eggs in one basket…Christ alone. In this repentance, we find ourselves restored to Christ, looking more like Him, how we were created to look( in His image) and operating/functioning with the mind of Christ.

So when discomfort comes, let expectancy rise up.... so often, the Father is birthing something new. Keep your eyes open for evidence of the new thing He's bringing about in you and/or around you. Much like the experience with my procedure, as we come to Christ we find healing and freedom, but often on the road to those places we'll experience His pruning, cutting, breaking, or pulling away things that are inappropriate and replacing them with good things. We may experience some binding and awkwardness as we learn to walk as the new person we've become. Do not fear or be dismayed, for He is with you where ever you go. These experiences are not uncommon throughout the life of a believer as He is always changing us from glory to glory that we might look more like Christ. Be encouraged, its evidence of our Mighty God moving and working in your life. Sometimes, only hindsight allows us the perspective to see the beautiful mural He's painting with our lives.Y'all hang in there! He doesn't disappoint!

Nothing Compares to Him! Sing Him praises from dawn to dusk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQWFzMvCfLE What a Beautiful Name, Hillsong Worship

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Acts 2:38

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8

28 And we know that God causes everything to work together[m] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn[n] among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

Isaiah 43:19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

John 13

2 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.