Tuesday, October 29, 2013
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Man, everywhere you look guys are wearing baseball caps. And girls and women are wearing them too! More often than not, the caps really don't have anything to do with baseball! I had a friend who is a college president, and he wanted to ban them in the classroom. From school, to church, to everyday life you've got more and more people wearing those caps.
Every once in a while I would say to my sons, "Hey, guys, you look so good without a hat. You look better." I usually got a simple explanation, (I'll bet you know.) "Bad hair day, Dad!" Well, there are those days you don't have time to wash your hair or get it to look right, so you just cover it with a hat, right? Which leads to an interesting moment in Christian youth meetings when it's time to pray, because of course hats come off when you pray, right? No matter how bad your hair looks. I guess if you time it right, you can take it off after every eye is closed, hope no one peeks, and put it back on just before anybody's got their eyes open.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Time To Uncover."
Our word for today from the Word of God begins in Hebrews 4:12. It says, "The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." In other words, your hat is always off.
What we've managed to cover up from everyone else God sees. The covering comes off when you pray...or it ought to. But we have a tendency to get all dressed up for God, and we come to Him with this flowery prayer language. We talk to Him about religious stuff. But real prayer begins when you come into God's presence with the real you; the one who isn't together like everybody else thinks you are, the one who's struggling and honest about it, the one who's hurting, the one who's doubting, or the one who's grieving, the one who's sinning. Maybe you're falling. Maybe you're giving out or maybe even giving up.
See, the first reason to come to God honestly is this: God already knows. That's what this says, "All things are uncovered and laid bare." There's no point in coming to impress God. You come, not as you ought to be, but as you are. Then in verse 15 we've got a second reason we can come honestly to God. "We do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way just as we are yet without sin." God really understands. You're talking to the God who's been here. He's been hurt, He's been lonely, exhausted, and criticized. Jesus was abandoned, slandered, tempted, betrayed, He was beaten, He was murdered. What a Savior! We can come uncovered to this Lord because He's walked this road. Jesus gives us someone who laughs with us, who struggles with us, who cries with us.
And there's one more reason to come honestly. God really responds to it. Verse 16 says, "Let us then approach the Throne of Grace with confidence that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." No condemnation; and not just understanding. God sends two supernatural resources in response to our honest sharing; mercy and grace aimed right at the honest need you just poured out to Him.
But God doesn't impose himself. He only comes by invitation. You'll only know the empowerment of God's grace in an area that you have totally opened up to Him. Remember, bring the real you to God. Like the hymn says, "Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me." The you that has been hidden from everyone else is the you God wants. He wants to carry and He wants to heal that person.
A bad hair day is one thing; it's the bad heart days that Jesus is concerned about. And when you pray, uncover what's really there.