come out of hiding, you!
“The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:10-11
We all want to be known, and yet, ironically, we are all hiding.
I know that there are parts of my personality that are unsavory, and that I am powerless to amend. All of us need an intervention from outside ourselves, someone who can see us, truly see us, and confront us in a non-traumatic but ruthless way.
It takes years of listening and proximity to arrive at that kind of honesty and vulnerability with each other. We think we’ve gotten there with our dearest friend or our spouse, but one wrong word can turn the relationship toxic for either party. We’re so busy trying to make sense of what we’re feeling that we might say something that we don’t mean to be judgmental, but is. And we might apologize if it is received that way, but that is a non-apology apology. Can we stand the shame of being truly sorry for a heart attitude that produced such superiority? For that is what it is. It is an “I know you better than you know you” mentality. Can we just lay that down? In reality, we hardly know ourselves or what drives us.
The Apostle Paul asked, “Who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them?” But the truth is, we need the Creator to intervene even in our own self-knowledge, to get at the deep undercurrents that we blind ourselves to, even in our own hearts and minds. Jesus said, “Take the log out of your own eye before removing the splinter from somebody else’s.” But that means we need to know what the real log is. Jesus wasn’t giving us self-help instructions as much as telling us how hopeless we are to do that without God’s help.
Let’s be honest. Do we want that kind of intimacy with any of our friends or counselors? Do we want to be laid bare before God? What if that means we have to change?
Isn’t that the point of self-examination, after all?
Love, Liz
“Cleanse me from my secret faults, O Lord…I fear to deceive myself, lest my sin should make me think that I am not sinful.” Augustine, North African bishop and theologian (354-430)
