Get Real

"The disease blocking our enjoyment of God has spread beyond the point where more effort to do what we think is right will be enough. And there is no anesthetic as the knife penetrates the soul" (Larry Crabb, Inside Out)

All of us have our dark places. They are not the topics of conversation we are likely to bring up at parties, probably not much more likely to bring up in our Sunday School class.

We are so good at maintaining image. Our entire culture is centered on keeping up appearances, and we’ve become well-trained in the art of creating an attractive illusion of who we are. That illusion may be based on reality, but it's partial and distorted. It's a misrepresentation of our true self.

Unfortunately, illusion doesn't get us very far in our Christian fellowship. We think we can convince others that everything in our life is on the up and up, that we can handle it, at all times, day in and day out, year after year. But even if we succeed at it for a little while, as the saying goes, eventually something’s gotta give!

When that breaking comes, as it surely will, where will we turn? And how can we be there for those around us as they are broken by life in a fallen world, as they come to grips with the depth of their self-deception? (News flash: we’re all self-deceived to one degree or another.)

One of the most precious blessings God affords us through the body is the sharing of the burdens of living out the Christian faith amidst inner and outer turmoil, as we battle against a very real enemy of our souls.

Yet, many of us walk years or even a lifetime without benefiting at all from such fellowship because most Christian circles keep relationship as superficial as the social chit chat at a PTA meeting. That’s simply not what God intends or desires for us.

In Waking the Dead, John Eldredge pleads with believers to enter the trench warfare of spiritual battle for one another in deep and transforming relationship, because “ . . . what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

It’s the kind of relationship that can’t happen when we build our concrete walls of self-protection 15-feet high and 6-feet deep. When we never admit our failures, never bring up our core fears, never publicly struggle with our sin and never question our fundamental opinions about life, love and faith.

This is a depth that may never be achieved with a group of 100, maybe not even with a group of 20. But have you sought out even one Christian friend who is willing to walk through the dark nights of the soul with you?

Can you find it in yourself to be mutually vulnerable to the new heart of Christ in another, with whom you can pray the powerful prayers, wrestle with the Word and speak and receive the truth in love? Someone with whom, as Dr. Larry Crabb would say, you can truly connect.

Who can be Christ to you, and to whom can you be Christ in return? The possibility for unspeakable joy and immeasurable connection are within reach.

Are you ready to reach out?