Uncovered and Exposed

5. When you feel the problem re-growing quickly expose it for others to see
John 3:21
“But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

What is it about darkness and things that are hidden that have so much potential to bring spiritual disease in the life of a believer? I remember one time when my wife and I were in the jungles of Panama and it became necessary to use the restroom. For those who are faint of heart, you may want to skip this part of the story, but the visual is too perfect for what it is we found in the darkness. As it was, my wife was a little frightened to use the restroom because of all of the horrible stories I have told her from around the world. So she already was holding on to my arm to protect her, even though she had no idea what I should had been protecting her from. This particular bathroom was an outhouse and was set back in the jungle a few paces. We had to walk about 100 feet from the room that we were going to be sleeping in that evening. It was dark. Now when I say dark it is a different dark than we experience when we turn the lights out at night. It is the kind of dark when you are in the middle of nowhere and you know you could not turn on the light if you wanted to. Maybe it all is the same in some scientific way but emotionally it is just not the same. So…we take our walk to the bathroom. We walk on boards that create a bridge from where we are at to the small outhouse hut. As we begin walking down the pieced together bridge, I am shining my flashlight all over the place to try and let Melissa see that there is nothing to fear. I was also laughing a lot, but I tried with all of my might to hide my giggles since Melissa felt there was nothing funny at this point. I walked her all the way up to the door, gave her the flashlight and was going to sit in the dark as she took care of the important issues in life. When she opened the door and shined the flashlight inside of the 3x3 hut used for the toilet, there were all sorts of critters trying to escape the light. Some ran down the floorboards and many of them went right down the toilet.

This is where the story ends and my teaching begins. Partly because neither of us had the need to use the restroom for a few days after that and, well, let’s just say that my wife had no intention of stepping foot into that outhouse again for the rest of our stay.

What would happen if we came up to your life? Walked across the bridge that took us to the crap that is hidden in the darkness and shined a bright flashlight revealing the truth about what was hidden behind the secret doors? All of our lies, falsities, broken promises, hellish habits, bad attitudes and anything else you can fill in the blank with, would try to flee. They would run and try to find a new place to hide. This is why once you have decided to submit your life to Christ and allow Him to transform all of you, not just the places that people can see; you must keep the lights on and the doors open. Sometimes, it takes years to convince oneself to allow the Lord, or anyone else for that matter, to know that we even have these dark areas of hidden sin. Once we have them exposed, they do not disappear forever unless we are active at keeping the doors of our outhouses open and the lights on. I am not talking about enough light to meander around the room. I am speaking of the intensity of God’s holy light formed by the presence of the Holy Spirit and God’s word.

My Personal Goal
I hope to live a life that is exposed for all to see. Not just in the areas of public service, but also in my private life. This is a goal for me because I have made a stand in my marriage, to my children, with my friends and to this world, that I am a man who will live for my God. I hope and pray that others can look to each part of my life and have an example of a genuine walk with the Lord. Please do not be confused. There are times when what is exposed is ugly and is crawling with bad attitude. At times my heart is infected with unforgiveness and pride. The example I hope to be for those God has put in my life is that of a real person, with real problems, who really lives for His God. May my ugliest parts of my life forever be exposed and tell the world of God’s love, hope, and grace.