The sermon I heard this last week reminded me of a book I read, and I guess you could say I was "nudged" by God and Lacie to post my thoughts. So here it goes........
I think that both the sermon and book were a great reminder, and a reminder that we all need, about the freedom that comes with truly understanding God's love for us. And that that love trumps, or better yet doesn't see, all the mess that we make of our lives.
The book is called Zippered Heart by Marilyn Merberg, who happens to be my favorite Christian writer. In the book she's talking about the two compartments of our heart, the right side....which we allow everyone and God to see cause we think it's all the acceptable things about us. And then the left side, which is the side of all the "ugly" thoughts, actions, words, feelings that we have or have had that we keep locked up nice and tight. Cause if we were to allow God or other people to see the left side, they would for sure not like or accept us.
So....onto her quote......"Here's the bottom-line truth I keep having to remind myself of: At the moment of conversion to Christ, Satan lost the battle for my eternal soul. But he'll never stop the daily war he wages against my spiritual well-being, my peace, my security, and the sure knowledge that I am loved beyond measure by my heavenly Father in spite of the shame that sometimes drapes itself around my inner being. God intends for me to be free of shame and to discard the denial habit. But to do so, not only do I need to believe that He truly does mean for me to experience daily peace, security, and the assurance of His limitless love, but I also need to carefully examine the pileup in my heart's left side so I'll know specifically what is keeping me buried in shame and exempt from abundance."
I love this quote and Wayne's sermon reminded me about how God doesn't see a left or right side of my heart, he just sees my heart and loves me. It also helped remind me to recognize that Satan plays dirty and he'll try daily make me split my heart into two sides and make me think that I should hide the left side from God and from the people around me. BUT he's SOOOO wrong, God doesn't see the left side, he just sees me and loves the whole me.