A Big Ugly Statue

Have you seen the Satanic Temple's goat statue? Next to the goat-headed figure are two children, a boy and a girl, looking up at the beast lovingly. It's not only blasphemous, it's hideous. 

I've seen pictures of Hindu gods, African spirit masks, totems and talismans that are equally frightening and demonic looking. 

Those to us are blatant, obviously evil (like the goat-headed, man-made stonework I first mentioned). We picture the devil also that way: obvious, ugly, monsterous. That is his true nature but the Bible says he parades like an "angel of light"; it describes him as one of the most beautiful in God's creation. Beautiful and full of death and destruction.

I say all this to remind us that the devil is not always obvious. Not all idols are ugly. We may look at the cringe-worthy ones and think "There's no way I'm worshipping that thing. You'd have to be a fool to bow down to something like that." 

What about idols that look good, that make us feel good? I'm talking about the things in our lives that aren't made of stone that don't have big scary facades. What takes up all our time and energy and resources? What do we spend the most time thinking about, working towards, living for? What do we obsess over? Is it a thing? A sport? Another person? Is it ourselves? 

An idol is anything we put before God--before his opinion, before his commands, before His Word. And it probably won't be as obvious as a big ugly statue. 

Our Weakness, God's Glory

Before I started working with people with disabilities, I was nervous around them. Sounds and behavior I wasn't used to made me want to stand back and keep my distance. I didn't know what to do with myself. Appearances alone would sometimes lock me up mentally--how could I possibly help someone who appeared so complicated to me? 

I was pondering this the other day, and God whispered "Is it no different from anyone else?" He's right. We're all complicated. And yet He loves, not just from a distance, but right down in the depths of us.

You see the beauty about people with special needs is that they don't just wear their heart on their sleeve, they wear everything else there too. For most they don't know how to hide their disability, because in their mind they are no different than the typically developing world.

Who taught us to hide ourselves? Think back to the Garden, it certainly wasn't our Heavenly Father. 

I can see it before they even ask for help, even if they never ask for help. Needs are right out there in the open. God gives me a small glimpse of how He sees me. My own needs are right there out in the open to Him; I'm wearing everything on my sleeve not hidden by facade and restraint whether I realize it or not. And He is present to assist me. The things I try to hide from the world, my own handicaps and struggles, He knows full well (Psalm 139). He sees my greatest need, my biggest obstacle and loves me enough to bend low and take my hand, look into my eyes and smile. "We got this."

His teaching moments are fun and gentle, hilarious, encouraging and uplifting, even stern and direct at times. He knows we're just dust.

Don't I want the same reassurances from my Heavenly Father they ask of me? "Look at me!" "Am I doing this right?" "Did I do a good job?" 

I can hear my own excuses in theirs also: "I can't do this." "I'm too tired." "I don't know how." Thankfully we have a great Teacher who knows our delays, our triggers, our behavior patterns. He knows us.

If you don't have someone with special needs in your life, you're missing out on some of the greatest friendships you'll ever have. They love with fierce loyalty, even if they can't tell you with words. They are God's best and first and it's an honor to be friends with His buddies. He has a prophetic anointing on people with special needs, they are always speaking to His glory. All that they are, anything they overcome, anytime they are loved and show love, it's Heaven fresh. I've said it before, they are the purest echo of God in the earth. 

Some people think it's backwards to say any of this; it doesn't make sense to a scholar how anyone with any kind of physical or mental limitation could possibly bring God glory, or bring anything else to the world for that matter. And in that logic there is revealed the pride that keeps them from giving God glory themselves. Because we're all limited, everyone of us. It's just more apparent to the eye of some more than others. 

We can take heart though. In our weakness--any of ours--He is strong!

"Who are we?"

David and Bathsheba. We all know the story. He broke and repented before the Lord. But sin had entered David's house. Years later David's son would rape his half-sister. When another brother stood up to defend her, asking his father to take a stand against his wayward son, David refused. More bloodshed would enter his house. David's kingdom divided and collapsed. And as Jesus said many, many years later "a house divided cannot stand."

We are that house divided. We look at the immorality exploding in our land and we are overwhelmed. We can't take a stand against every one of the evils that threaten our house so we choose not to stand against any of them. We know we ourselves are sinners, maybe still actively living in sin. "Who are we to judge? Who are we to say anything when this sin is no different in God's eyes than that sin or that sin?" Our house is about to fall.

Jesus said to take the plank out of your own eye so that you can help remove the plank in your brother's eye. We are all walking around with painful, festering logs in our eyes thinking this is somehow a better way to reach the world ("I'm ok, you're ok") when it is killing us. 

Jesus asked what good is salt if it loses its saltiness? Salt isn't just for flavor, it's for preserving, for cleansing. Salt in an open wound is painful, but it's necessary for healing to take place. 

God in His wisdom knows we won't take a stand against sin if we are dealing with our own sin--the guilt of past ones, the reality of ones still strongholding in our hearts. We can't fix this with fig leaves. Jesus already provided us with a way to be holy as He is holy. 

That is who we are. "Who are we to--" WE'RE FORGIVEN, MADE NEW, BLOOD BOUGHT AND TRANSFORMED BY THE LOVE OF THE SON WHO ALONE WAS WORTHY TO TAKE ON ALL OUR SIN.  We are His ambassadors, a people made holy and washed white with His own righteousness. We have a voice to speak into people's lives because we've been redeemed, once in offense to God and His holiness now made right with Him, empowered with authority to take His message of love and hope to this dying world. God help us to bring our sin boldly to you to rectify. Help us despise our own sin, not to treat it with care or affection. Help us to run to you with hidden sins that are cancer to our souls. Help us understand that it is a loving Father who longs to deal with sin in our lives. Help us to see who we are now that we are in Christ so that we can speak without shame about You and Your grace.