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Cal's Pastoral Epistles
More Than Flesh And Blood
April 5, 2005
Dear friends,
How well do you know yourself? I got to see myself in a whole new light
the other day. I had to have x-rays taken of my neck and shoulders
because I was having some reoccurring back spasms. As the technician
was finishing up, I glanced over at monitor. I was awestruck by how
different I looked in the x-rays. I saw the essential Cal Lord.
I have to tell you that I do not think of myself as a skeleton covered with
muscle, flesh and blood. There is much more to each of us than meets the
eye, isn't there? As I left the x-ray suite, it dawned on me that nobody
really knows you and me that intimately. No one can look inside of us with
x-ray vision and see our hearts. We often hide behind walls that we put up
to protect ourselves. Just as the skin and muscle protects the vital organs
from exposure, we have roles we play, we have stories we tell, we have an
image we project that keeps us safe from the world around us.
The truth is that we know too much about ourselves don't we? We know
where all our hurt and broken places are. I'll never forget the time I went
into a tailor to get a new suit As he was measuring me, he asked how long
ago I had broken my arm. I stood there with my jaw open and asked him
how he knew. He said he could tell because one of my arms is shorter than
the other. Ever since, I have worked even harder to hide the fact.
Sometimes I think we even try to hide from God because we aren't sure
He could accept us with all of our flaws. Somewhere along the way we
started believing that God only loved perfect people. We look at them and
say, "God can't love me. How can I compare with them with all of my
flaws?"
If you have been thinking along these lines then I have good news for you.
God has something akin to x-ray vision. When God looks at us He sees
much more than flesh and blood. He sees well beyond our sin and failure.
He sees us in all of our potential, as we were created to be. He sees us
restored and fulfilling the promise we were born with. All God asks is that
we come to Him and let Him into our everyday lives.
I love the words of the 139th Psalm where David begins, "You have
examined my heart and know everything about me." David declares these
words even though he had committed adultery and failed to live up to
God's high standards. And in Psalm 51 David cries out and asks God to
"create in him a clean heart and to renew a right spirit within him." David
went on to be one of the heroes of our faith. He was a beloved king of
Israel and the scriptures tell us that the Messiah would be among his
descendants.
Are you trying to hide your brokenness from God? Don't bother. God
looks beyond the front we put up. He sees you as you really are and is
ready to embrace you anyway. Open the doors to your heart and let Him in
so you can be blessed.
God bless! See you in Church.
Cal
April 5, 2005
Dear friends,
How well do you know yourself? I got to see myself in a whole new light
the other day. I had to have x-rays taken of my neck and shoulders
because I was having some reoccurring back spasms. As the technician
was finishing up, I glanced over at monitor. I was awestruck by how
different I looked in the x-rays. I saw the essential Cal Lord.
I have to tell you that I do not think of myself as a skeleton covered with
muscle, flesh and blood. There is much more to each of us than meets the
eye, isn't there? As I left the x-ray suite, it dawned on me that nobody
really knows you and me that intimately. No one can look inside of us with
x-ray vision and see our hearts. We often hide behind walls that we put up
to protect ourselves. Just as the skin and muscle protects the vital organs
from exposure, we have roles we play, we have stories we tell, we have an
image we project that keeps us safe from the world around us.
The truth is that we know too much about ourselves don't we? We know
where all our hurt and broken places are. I'll never forget the time I went
into a tailor to get a new suit As he was measuring me, he asked how long
ago I had broken my arm. I stood there with my jaw open and asked him
how he knew. He said he could tell because one of my arms is shorter than
the other. Ever since, I have worked even harder to hide the fact.
Sometimes I think we even try to hide from God because we aren't sure
He could accept us with all of our flaws. Somewhere along the way we
started believing that God only loved perfect people. We look at them and
say, "God can't love me. How can I compare with them with all of my
flaws?"
If you have been thinking along these lines then I have good news for you.
God has something akin to x-ray vision. When God looks at us He sees
much more than flesh and blood. He sees well beyond our sin and failure.
He sees us in all of our potential, as we were created to be. He sees us
restored and fulfilling the promise we were born with. All God asks is that
we come to Him and let Him into our everyday lives.
I love the words of the 139th Psalm where David begins, "You have
examined my heart and know everything about me." David declares these
words even though he had committed adultery and failed to live up to
God's high standards. And in Psalm 51 David cries out and asks God to
"create in him a clean heart and to renew a right spirit within him." David
went on to be one of the heroes of our faith. He was a beloved king of
Israel and the scriptures tell us that the Messiah would be among his
descendants.
Are you trying to hide your brokenness from God? Don't bother. God
looks beyond the front we put up. He sees you as you really are and is
ready to embrace you anyway. Open the doors to your heart and let Him in
so you can be blessed.
God bless! See you in Church.
Cal
Pastor Cal Lord writes these weekly epistles to
help us see God in every day things.
help us see God in every day things.
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