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Blessed are the pure in heart12/28/2023 He sees us when we are impressive, as well as indecent. He saw us first.įor “Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). God sees us and knows us long before we could ever think to seek Him. But Praise the Lord, He is not hiding from us, and nothing is hidden from Him. I want to see Him so badly that I’ve shamed my sinful heart into hiding. But in reality, I start to hide more, feel less, and then wonder why I can’t see God in the midst of my shame. Reading that verse makes me want to work harder and look better. When I read, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8), I’m sent scrambling, trying to scrub my heart of its impurities. My attempts to outwardly correct my inward shame had only exposed it more. What I’d been using to hide and treat my condition was actually the root of my problem. Then, the translator turned to me, diagnosing an allergic reaction to an ingredient specific to Italian soap and detergent. Sitting in the doctor’s office chair, I listened to the translator and the doctor intensely converse, unable to decipher what they were saying. I’m hiding so well that I don’t see a thing-not myself, and definitely not God. And do you know what I see when I do these things? Nothing. Just today, I’ve held doors, given compliments, and tweeted Scripture-which are all good things, but my motives are off. This isn’t the first time I’d taken matters into my own hands, working to scrub away my flaws for a pristine exterior. But it got worse, sending me to the farmacia, which was closed, followed by the doctor’s office, all the while accompanied by a translator who did not know the word for “hives.” The minute the itchiness ensued, I immediately began washing all my clothes and sheets, then used every last drop of my brand-new bottle of soap in the shower. I’d intentionally chosen a program without any familiar faces-just me and the open road! Instead, it was just me… and the scratching. The doctor’s office wasn’t on my list of must-see destinations in Italy, but it’s the one I got to check off the list just 72 hours into my semester abroad.
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