The Cover Up

So really long story short, I’ve been having a little issue with my face for the last couple months and I found out yesterday what the problem was so I got a treatment to take care of it. As the case with most things that have to heal, it ends up getting worse before it actually gets better. So I woke up this morning and it wasn’t looking that great…who am I kidding it wasn’t looking great at all so I threw on makeup to cover it up as I had been doing for the last couple of months. As I get to church and I go into the bathroom to check out that my “cover up” is still intact, the Holy Spirit showed me that it won’t heal if you keep covering it up. I immediately thought but it’s ugly I have to cover it up! I don’t want people to see it. Once again, it won’t heal if you keep covering it up. So I'm going back and forth thinking I'm not taking this makeup off for this mess to be exposed. Then it hit me…it’s funny how sometimes we have to go through things to understand something that’s completely unrelated but completely related at the same time if that makes sense. God was not talking about my face; He was using this as an example to deal with the heart…talking about sin and things that He wants to heal and deliver us from but we keep trying to cover it up instead of allowing it to be exposed.

We have a tendency to want to cover up the things that are ugly. All the things that we don’t want exposed to people we try to keep it hidden by covering it up and not really dealing with it or portraying to people that everything is okay when the reality is behind the mask we’ve caked on, it’s a mess; it’s ugly and we’d rather keep it hidden. But it won’t heal if you keep covering it up. God wants to expose the mess, the ugliness, the unpretty but we spend so much time trying to cover it up. Covering it up slows down the healing process because God is trying to pluck up the root of that mess but we keep trying to cover it up because of how it effects the outward appearance yet we fail to realize how it is really detrimental to us on the inside. We fail to understand that just as we keep covering it up we are holding ourselves in bondage. God wants to free us of the ugly and the mess but we have to stop covering it up in order for Him to do so. He wants to expose what we try to keep hidden and it’s not to embarrass us but so that we can be freed from the bondage of condemnation of our sin that we think is ugly and that we feel we have to cover because we don’t want people to see it. In John 8:31-32, Jesus reminds the disciples that “if ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (KJV). Part of that truth is that there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:1, KJV) so why allow yourself to remain in bondage by holding on to things in your heart that you know are separating you from God and trying to condemn you?

The longer you keep wounds covered the more likely they are to become infected and what usually happens with infections is that they tend to spread. It contaminates more of the area and now it takes longer for the antibiotic to work because it has to fight harder against the infection. In some cases the infection is too strong for the antibiotic because we either don’t use it as often as we’re supposed to or we wait too long to treat it and so now the virus is immune to the treatment.  This is also what happens with sin that goes unaddressed. The only difference is that sin will never be too strong for God to attack and take control of but we have to allow Him to do so. It is a tactic of the enemy to make us fear having the mess exposed but it’s in that exposure that we become free and are no longer bound by what we are trying to keep hidden. Oftentimes when people come to visit where we live we may show them the living room area, the kitchen, the bathroom, but there’s usually a room or two that we’ll keep the door closed; maybe because we didn’t get a chance to clean up or there’s something that we don’t want them to see. We do the same with God, closing off certain parts of our hearts to Him because it’s not clean or not as “ready” to be presented to Him as we would like. We keep hiding things thinking that we’re benefiting everybody else by keeping them from seeing what’s really going on but you’re only hurting yourself. God can meet us where we are but we have to acknowledge where we are, not where we pretend to be. David asked God in Psalm 51:10 create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me (KJV). He realized that he could not create a clean heart for himself but he needed God to purify his heart and make him whole again. Just because we don’t tell God our struggle that does not mean that He does not realize it. He wants to help but we have to acknowledge that we need help and stop trying to hide it so that He can show us how to be freed. Here’s the reality: no matter how much you try to cover up what’s going on with you it will be exposed eventually. You can only keep things hidden but for so long. The great pretending game will get you nowhere; deal with what’s dealing with you and give it to God. Be free.

Couple of things!

·         Don’t forget to check out www.changedheartsunited.com

·         You can find all of the monthly teachings, vlogs, Changed Hearts: Real Talk, and Q&A’s on my YouTube channel:  www.youtube.com/user/AngelWalston

·         Last 60 days of prayer conference call will be tomorrow 12/30/13 @ 9pm EST.

                Dial in: 1-443-453-0034

                Code: 710142

·         Changed Hearts: Kingdom Focused bible study will start 1/11/14! More details to come.