Day 2777 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Psalm 119:18 NIV

Open hearts and open minds open doors. They make possible things like growth, improvement, healing, understanding, wisdom, and mercy. You know, all the amazing things that basically became afterthoughts as we followed lies and deception toward a life filled with misery and shame and guilt. We've missed out on so many things thinking that we were on the road to some amazing life filled with every dream and goal and plan and pursuit that would bring us nothing but joy and excitement.

We were just certain that there was some prize that existed within a life of sinful freedom and self-indulgence. Yet, what have we really found? I can't speak for anyone else, but I'll freely admit that all the sinful choices I've made only won me a mountain of shame to try and find some way to climb over but that only ever seemed to feel crushing. All I ever found wandering the well-trod paths of this world is closed eyes, a closed mind, and a very hardened heart.

You see, that's the hidden danger in living a life lost in sin. We don't see the damage it's doing because it keeps us distracted by all the fun we're getting to have. We don't stop to notice the warning signs. We just blast right past them in our hot pursuit of more filth and depravity. But just because we're good at ignoring reality, and that sin helps us do so even better, that doesn't mean that the crash at the end of that road that all those warning signs were pointing toward isn't still there.

The sad truth that every single human either has to or will one day be forced to deal with is that we've missed it. We've missed the other path that we could have taken. We missed the countless opportunities to turn around and avoid the head-on collision with regret that was always hidden behind all those pretty lies we couldn't stop chasing. We missed experiencing a different kind of freedom as we continued to believe that what we'd found in sin was as good as it could be.

But we missed noticing how our eyes were closing off anything and everything that didn't bring us that same high that we got from indulging our desires. We didn’t notice the feeling of our hearts beginning to shut out everything that stood in our way of fun and fervor. We never once took notice of how dark the world around us was getting because we chose to remain blinded by something that was literally too good to be true.

And then even when we do crash back to rock bottom in the pits that we'd spent years digging, we don't really find the same allure in God's path as we do in the one that we know we need to leave behind. We look back at all the days of wayward freedom and then compare it to the humility and self-control and self-denial that following Christ demands and we struggle to believe it's worth it.

Why leave behind so much fun and enjoyment and excitement for a life of relative dullness and boredom? I mean, who would trade in a corvette for a bicycle? And that's the speed bump of faith that maybe hits the hardest. It's the leaving behind all the carefree days only to find a monumental sense of responsibility to do better. It's literally walking away from a life that we found years of enjoyment living only to step into one that wears fancy clothes on Sunday morning and pays more attention to what you watch on TV and has this requirement to not be idiots anymore.

But all those doubts in whether or not a life of faith is worth what we have to leave behind are only a symptom of eyes that have been blinded to reality for so long that they don't even know what it looks like anymore. It's just our hardened hearts telling us that what we've found is already amazing and that anything else, especially something radically different and completely unenjoyable, will only mean us losing our freedom and enjoyment of life.

Thank God for His patience with us! You see, I believe He understands how hard this transition is for us pitiful heathens to make. I believe that He understands the deep grip that sin has held on our hearts and how difficult it is to shake it loose. I believe that He truly understands what it is that He's asking us to do, to change, to leave behind, and how much we struggle with it. I believe these things because He went so far as to send His Son to die on a cross in order to help us see not only just how lost we've been but also how far He will go to bring us back.

Sin has long had us convinced that there's nothing worthwhile to find in a life of self-control, and rules, and expectations, and limits, and righteousness. It's led us to believe that we'll never find any happiness again should we get rid of the filth that's clogged our veins. And as our hearts accepted those lies as truth, our eyes only grew to doubt even more in why anyone would choose this Jesus guy who only leads them to leaving everything behind in exchange for the promise of something better later on.

But you see, it's not just the promise of Heaven that makes this road worth walking. It's not just the hope that it eventually leads us toward. It's not just this common misconception wherein many sadly use religion as grounds to stand in judgement against their neighbor. No, what we find along this road is a kind of joy that's not able to be expressed in words. We find a hope that sin simply can't offer. We find the chance to feel all the weight of guilt and shame lifted off our shoulders.

We find that while sin seemed great at the time, the darkness it conceals is just incapable of competing with the knowledge that we have always been loved even in all those years of not loving ourselves.

As we discussed a day or two ago, this process of sanctification and healing and renewal isn't easy and it isn't quick. We've all spent years fleeing from everything moral and decent. We've racked up the miles chasing what only amounted to empty promises and broken dreams. We've got more scars than show on the surface. And since it’s taken us years to become completely blinded to the reality of God’s truth, it’s going to take some effort to start heading back the other direction.

It's just bound to take some time for us to break down those walls, and repair the damage, and start to rebuild our lives upon a completely new foundation.

But thankfully, God is truly loving, patient, and helpful. He teaches us. He guides us. He opens our eyes to seeing ourselves and our lives and our futures in a totally new perspective that's not hindered or darkened by worldly filth. He helps us finally be able to see that there is so much good in a life spent following and learning from and aiming for Christ that it'd simply take too long to list. What we leave behind can't hold a candle to what we find in the cross! Because that cross shows us the very real truth about what it is that we leave behind.

Friends, doubt is a lie that's only there to keep us where we are. It's nothing but another tool that wickedness uses to control us and to keep us from seeing behind all the smoke and mirrors. And ultimately, it's a choice in whether or not we continue to foolishly fall for the games only to win prizes that go up in smoke as soon as we lay hands on them.

There is nothing good in sin because sin offers nothing that lasts. Sure, it's fun. It's exciting. Makes us feel good a bit. But it all fades, and since it all fades, it's simply all fake. We've been offered an open door that leads to something amazing. And not only something amazing, but something amazing that lasts. To step through that door though requires open eyes that can see what lies beyond that threshold.

Don't let sin make your choices anymore. Open your eyes. Do some thinking. Toss up a prayer or two and see if you feel anything different than what you're used to feeling. Who knows, you may just find that there's a whole new kind of life that you never knew was possible. You just might realize that this life of carefree freedom was nothing but deceptive enslavement to self all along. You may just find that you don’t have to bury your mistakes anymore because Christ really has forgiven them.

Don’t know, but seems like it’s worth trying in my opinion!

#LeaveNoSoulUntold