God is love! He is compassionate, merciful, gracious, and abounding in goodness and truth. God loves you, and God loves me. He loves me with an infinite love—a love that will take me eternity to even begin to understand. God loves me more than I can ever love myself, and more than anyone else ever could. He so loves you and me that He would rather die than lose us for eternity. God's love is truly incomprehensible. God loves you!
But sin has created a breach of trust between us and God, so we now often see our loving Creator as someone seeking to destroy us. The moment Adam and Eve sinned, their perception of God changed. Whereas they used to come to God, they instead fled from His presence. They used to enjoy His presence; now, they hide for fear that He will destroy them. But God did not come after them to destroy them; He came to save them from ruin, to give them a promise of hope, and to lay down His life for them.
Many of us are continuing on the same path as Adam and Eve. We continue to hide from God, fearing Him and thinking He is out to destroy us or that He doesn't want us to have fun. Many hide because, deep down, they don’t think God has their best interests at heart. We fear that if we surrender our hearts to Jesus, our lives will become boring, we will no longer be "cool" to the world, or we will lose the things we love. So, many run away from the call of God and hide from the loving Jesus.
Many are in the church physically but are inwardly hiding from the Lord. There are pastors, elders, deacons, and praise team members participating in the service while remaining in deep hiding. Adam and Eve were still in the Garden of Eden—the Garden of God—while they were hiding. So, how do we hide from God when He can see all things? We hide by masking our true selves as if He couldn't see us. The Lord does not force Himself on us, and He will not enter our lives unless we invite Him in.
What the world sees is not who we truly are. The world sees our physical exterior, but our true identity is the person within: the thoughts, the feelings, and the heart. We hide from God by keeping these things from Him. A man can be preaching in a pulpit while living a secret life of sin; if he does not speak to God about these struggles, he is hiding from God while standing in His house. Hiding only destroys us because God truly does see us; we are only fooling ourselves and denying ourselves the experience of His love and true freedom.
Recently, the authorities caught an escaped fugitive, Danilo Cavalcante. He was a convicted murderer who had managed to escape from prison. The police hunted him down to return him to justice because he was desperate, armed, and a threat to the public. Many of us are fleeing from God and the justice of His law. We are armed with defense mechanisms, desperate and dangerous to ourselves and each other. Jesus is also pursuing us, but the good news is that He is not pursuing us to lock us up, but to free us from the power of sin that has captured us. Jesus pursues us with love, not with weapons of war. He took the death we deserve to give us His life of joy and freedom. There is no need to hide from such a Pursuer.
Friends, we need to stop hiding! How do we do that? We stop hiding by coming to His presence exactly as we are. We expose our inner selves to Him in prayer. Speak to God about the real you—your real thoughts, your secret sins, and your faults.
For example, if you struggle with lying, come to the Lord and say: "Lord, I am a liar. I lie for no reason. Please purify my lips and help me to speak the truth." We stop hiding when we reveal our secrets to Him: "Lord, I am proud; help me be humble. Lord, I struggle with sexual sin; help me be pure. Lord, I struggle with suicidal thoughts; give me the victory. Lord, I feel like I hate You because of what happened; help me to love You. Lord, I don't think You have my best interests at heart; help me understand that You want what is best for me."
Exposing the inner person to God in prayer is how we draw nearer to Christ. As we draw nearer, we move from darkness to light. As we open up, the Holy Spirit begins to wash us with the blood of Christ and purify us. You will start to feel the burden of guilt and shame lift, and you will experience true freedom. God is not seeking to destroy you, but to set you free from the sin that is already destroying you. He seeks you out to give you abundant, eternal life. Let us be vulnerable with Him; let us open our hearts in prayer, and He will surely heal us.
https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-prison-escape-danelo-cavalcante-brazil-057903609fa9a6815c19d9614988b349
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