Don’t be fooled by the colors. They look lively but they are dead. What do we do with something that’s dead or brings death? We do away with it. As for these leaves, even though they are dead, keeping it tucked between the pages of a book preserves it. You can keep going back to it as often as you like. How it comes naturally to us to tuck and hold on to things that we know hinder us from our faith walk.
We collect dead weight as we journey in this life, the weight of disappointment, disillusionment, guilt, trauma, unforgiveness and a host of things that bring a lot of pain to us and to those around us. Being in this fallen state, everything mentioned is inescapable, even for those who think they did not deserve having to go through it.
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.”
1 Peter 4:12
The only way of knowing the genuineness of our faith is being burned and passing through the fire (Daniel 3, 1 Peter 1:6-7).
Looking at a day old news feels like looking at last year’s news and this feeling certainly reminds me of the ‘days being cut short’ and knowing the imminency of Christ’s return, what is keeping you off course?
Luo (loo-oh)… Paraluo (parah-loo-oh)… I am not a greek scholar but these words came to my mind yesterday. I’m not sure if I’ve heard it before, maybe, but I’m not sure. Looking it up was part of an awakening. I have gotten too comfortable where I was, in an undeniably weakened, to the point of being paralyzed state.
Trauma has knocked me off course and though this prison has no lock, it can become comfortable. The danger in this is when we start looking for answers apart from God’s Word. The trauma attempted to lead me back to an avenue of the arcane. I’ve been there before and through the power of the Holy Spirit, I refuse to go that road again.
“If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”
Matthew 18:8-9
Friend, what is God asking you to burn?
