Rising from the Ashes

Each month I receive a copy of "Our Daily Bread", a devotional from RBC Ministries.  Enclosed with the pamphlet is an article written by Mart DeHaan.  Many times he begins with "I've been thinking..."

Well, I've been thinking myself....

One the topics that I've been giving some thought to is the subject of denial.
It can permeate every and any area of our lives.
There is always a lie under the surface motivating this insidious destroyer.
A lie which we have accepted as truth.

The result is loss and disappointment. 

We buy into the lie and cheat ourselves out of the Truth that will set us free!

In the first chapter of Romans we are told that God has revealed Himself in and through nature.  Each one of us has had a revelation of and from God.  It is our choice whether we receive it and go deeper in knowing Him and receiving Him or settle for the lie that there is no God or, at best, a very distant one. 
We will be judged accordingly; we will either be declared free or imprisoned eternally.

Denial speaks the lie to our hearts that we must have power; we must be in control; we must dominate.
We dare not surrender.  We dare not change!  The belief that we have control is an illusion.

In the account of Jesus' death and burial in Matthew twenty-seven the final few verses speak of the religious leaders going to Pilate and asking that he make Jesus' tomb secure.  They referred to Jesus as 'the deceiver' and recalled His words that after three days He would rise again. 
Interesting. 
Their response, at the time Jesus spoke those words, was as if they didn't know He was referring to His body, but spoke of the temple.
Is this denial?  Certainly.  Though they knew the truth they ignored it out of self-protection.  Their positions and way of life were in jeopardy!  Ignore, ignore, ignore or lose control!

We all want to live and live fully.  Yet, we hold back out of fear.  Denial specializes in fear, fear of failure, of losing control, of rejection. 

We need to hear the words the angels spoke to the women at the empty tomb, "Do not seek the living among the dead!"  We look for life among the dead things of our past and present, the dead things of this world.
I am learning to seek the Living One without having to shuffle through the debris of dead things.

His Spirit stirs my heart to true worship.  Praise and honor to our God results in a vision for the future beginning in my little world.  Life rises up from the ashes of the lies.
He is Risen!  And He has called us to join Him in that resurrection life!
Praise His Glorious Name!!