Invitation #1 - Less Self-Protection/More Self-Clarity

How are your New Year resolutions going? By this time of the year they are typically fading (or have disappeared!). With the new life of spring a renewed commitment makes a lot of sense. Over the next couple weeks we will focus on invitations from God that help us "keep in step with the Spirit." The first invitation is to live with less self-protection. Why is this so needed? Because we cannot love and be loved well when we are highly defended. But the journey to a more open heart is hard.I (Jim) remember a person who came with marriage difficulties and who was in a hurry to get past her problem (she labeled it numbness). She wanted to be more intimate with her husband. But to find out what was at work in her soul she had to work on self-clarity. Clarity probed the numbness. Why such profound apathy, indifference? Why such tenacity to remain apart and avoid any connection? The answer came in a profound story of physical and emotional abuse. Her story became far more painful, and a long journey of finding her way back through the pain of her abuse began. Clarity didn’t make the journey easier, just more true and real. And that is what it takes to become less self-protective.Our commitment to clarity is our resolve to allow God’s truth to confront and correct our lives without defensiveness or resistance. God’s word is true, and because it is it will clarify things within our souls (Hebrews 4:12). It helps us see the state of our relationships, our work, our motives, our purpose and our destiny. The word of God will not mask our life, it will clarify what is true by exposing what is within us.How is your time of contemplative reading of Scripture going? Do you need to renew your commitment to listening to the Spirit speaking through the Word to help you see what is at work in your soul? Less self-protection requires more self-clarity.