Matthew 5:38-48 …
38 You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
39 But I say to you, Do not resist the evil man [who injures you]; but if anyone strikes you on the right jaw or cheek, turn to him the other one too.
40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your undershirt (tunic), let him have your coat also.
41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two [miles].
42 Give to him who keeps on begging from you, and do not turn away from him who would borrow [at interest] from you.
43 You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy;
44 But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 To show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike].
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward can you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that?
47 And if you greet only your brethren, what more than others are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles (the heathen) do that?
48 You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect. (AMP)
It is amazing how I can find God anywhere, that is, when I am looking for him. I find him everywhere and in everything. When I meditate on God, I have even found him at my place of employment. For example when I was working in wrapping at Kitchen Craft Cabinetry, I was overwhelmed with joy and basking in feeling the nearness of God. As the day progressed, I was becoming quite upset with the cabinets that have false fronts. It was then that I heard God impress upon my heart, “My daughter, you are just like one of these cabinets with the false fronts”.
Needless to say, I was quite taken aback by this comment. But as I thought about what he had said to me, I realized how true his statement was. Those cabinets look as though they have drawers, but the drawers do not open, as this is where the sink would be put. As I reflected upon his words, I realized how often I put up a false front in front of others so that, in this, I could protect myself from being hurt again, from being vulnerable. God showed me that if I do not allow myself to become vulnerable then I am not really living. Most importantly, I do not trust him to take care of me as he had promised to do when I gave my life to him. To be honest I do have a huge struggle with trust, but God is in the business of sanctifying his children. Just before the New Year of that year, I came upon this Bible verse:
Psalm 28:7 …
7) The Lord is my Strength and my [impenetrable] Shield; my heart trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song will I praise Him. (AMP)
This verse was, in a literal sense, true for me since I could not stop singing praises to God. Everyone around me had no choice but to listen to my off-key singing. Besides, Christ commanded us to trust him in everything in his word:
John 14:1 …
1) Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me. (AMP)
How do you suppose do we trust him if we will not allow ourselves to be vulnerable with others? How often have we refused to help someone who is in trouble because we know that this person is a difficult person to deal with, and there is a high chance we will get stung by them? Perhaps we should all search our own hearts and see if we struggle with allowing God to use us because we may get hurt. I wonder, how many of us find it harder to be vulnerable with ourselves than we do with others? The people who know me intimately know that I find it very difficult to be vulnerable with myself. It is called lying to yourself. I can be very honest with those around me but to myself I will say, “that did not hurt”. This is not true. But I cannot handle dealing with the truth about how things make me feel so I tell myself that things don’t really hurt when in reality they hurt tremendously. God, in his great grace is helping me work on this issue in my life. I have decided to take as my motto:
Psalm 13:5 …
5) But I have trusted, leaned on, and been confident in Your mercy and loving-kindness; my heart shall rejoice and be in high spirits in Your salvation. (AMP)
A few days after God had given me this insight, he impressed upon my heart a message again. This time he let me know how special and unique I was … and still am … to him. I had been standing there admiring this cabinet. It was a naturally stained alder cabinet; it is my favourite kind of cabinet. In fact, the more knots and cracks it has the more beautiful it is to me. God showed me how flawed this wood, like me, is. Yet at Kitchen Craft Cabinetry we do not remove any of the flaws or imperfections, rather, we perfect them. In the same manner, God does not remove our imperfections, but instead, he perfects them in us. He takes our imperfections and makes something beautiful out of them. The following verses are very meaningful to me and capture this thought quite well:
Hebrews 10:14 …
14) For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. (NKJV)
John 17:23 …
23) I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and [definitely] recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them [even] as You have loved Me. (AMP)
I try to let all people I come in contact with know that Christ loves them and wants to change them from the inside out. But when Christ changes them, he will not take away their flaws but rather perfect them. Christ made us the way we were for a reason. Sometimes the things we hate most about ourselves and find the most frustrating to deal with, are the very things that God will use in amazing ways to bring about healing in not just our lives but in the lives of many people we come into contact with. We should not criticize ourselves, nor others, for their flaws, but rather ask God to show you what it is he wants to accomplish through those flaws; ask him to let us see others and ourselves through his eyes. If he took away our imperfections then we many become somewhat self-righteous and egotistical. Even the apostle Paul said:
2 Corinthians 12:6-10 …
6) Should I desire to boast, I shall not be a witless braggart, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I abstain [from it] so that no one may form a higher estimate of me than [is justified by] what he sees in me or hears from me.
7 And to keep me from being puffed up and too much elated by the exceeding greatness (pre-eminence) of these revelations, there was given me a thorn (a splinter) in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to rack and buffet and harass me, to keep me from being excessively exalted.
8 Three times I called upon the Lord and besought [Him] about this and begged that it might depart from me;
9 But He said to me, My grace (My favour and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!
10 So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength). (AMP)
Sometimes I truly hate my flaws, but without them, I know that I would become an egotistical person. My flaws, in a weird way, make me feel special. They let me know that there is at least one person out there who accepts me exactly as I am. When I think on this I get filled with tremendous hope for the future. This message of hope is what God wants us to share with our fellow man and woman. Like one of my favourite hymns, “Just as I am”, we are to go to God just as we are. He wants us to come to him with all our shortcomings, all our hang-ups, all our imperfections and all our needs. When we do, he will not laugh at us nor will he reject us in the least. Rather, God will receive us with open arms and welcome us into his family forever; to be joint heirs with his son Jesus.
By God grace, we can change things without changing who God made us to be. By this, I mean that God gives us, through his grace, the ability to accept the things that we cannot change, which changes our hearts and thinking. That is where the changes need to start. First the heart … then the thinking will follow. God may not have changed or removed any imperfections, thorns in our sides, but has taught us to see that his Grace will help us through all things and that his grace is enough for us.
Another one of my favourite hymns is “Amazing Grace”. My heart is overflowing with gratitude that I do not have to get all things perfect or right because his grace truly is amazing, and it is enough for the purposes of God in my life. I wish all people could feel the way that God makes me feel. Perhaps I can show even just one person this by allowing God to use me to love others just as they are. I saw this post on Facebook, it said:
Instead of judging others by their past, stand by them and help repair their future. -Solitary Reaper-
How many of us are willing to stand by and help repair others futures? Some people have been so traumatized by the pain and abuse in their lives that they can barely make it from one day to the next. Often they come across as very hostile. You may feel like you have bumped into barbed wires when you get near them. But maybe that is why God brought them into your life. I was such a person. Just before I met one of the best friends I have ever had, God gave her a vision in which he told her that he was going to bring someone into her life that he wanted her to love. Nothing more … nothing less … just love. There were many times that she wished she hadn’t taken on the commission from the Lord. But today she sees how God has changed my life and this change from pure barbed wire to someone who loves the Lord and is on the journey to healing would not have happened if she had not been willing to do what God commissioned her to do … if she had not been willing to be vulnerable. Through her Christ has taught me so much about who God is and what he truly is like. I once heard somewhere that God has a commission, a job, for each one of us to do. If we refuse to do that job then there is no one else who can take our place. Let us let God use us in any way he needs to so that God can change and bless others through us.
Do you dare to be Vulnerable? I do not know about you, but I plan on going out there and winning at least one soul for Jesus. If I can have a small part in winning just one soul from hell, even if I never find out, then I believe that this is worth the pain of being vulnerable.
-Regina ten Brinke-
