Get Real

2009 Continuing Series ~ Transference
Based on John 3:30: Jesus must increase, I must decrease

"He who conceals his sins does not prosper,

but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy."

[Pv 28:13]

The power company frequently scopes neighborhoods for tree branches that interfere with power lines. If a tree happens to make contact, it is promptly pruned. This is to eliminate any potential hazard or possible service interruptions due to extreme weather. However wise, it leaves in its wake a rather peculiar sight.

As I drive along I often take notice of their handiwork. Laid bare in winter, these trees expose their scars at the hand of men.

In the summer months foliage covers these deformities and they aren’t nearly as noticeable. The marred trees are better able to hide their shameful form. Except in extreme cases (as shown below).



With Transference ever on my mind, this anomaly caught my attention even more than usual. Transference of ownership to more of Christ and less of me will take courageous searching. Asking God to search the depths of my heart will uncover the flaws, the wounds, the scars. Done with sincerity, I’m sure to be shown character flaws; unconfessed sin; lack of forgiveness. If I am willing to be honest before God, laid as bare as those trees of winter, He will point out some serious defects and deficits hidden under the cover of self-applied camouflage.

Adam and Eve walked naked before God -- until they had something to hide. Oh, to be shed of the shame we use as camouflage! We are not hiding something He cannot already see. It would serve me well to remember that His grace cannot reach what I do not expose to Him for healing.

Adam & Eve tried to hide from God rather than face Him. It’s a real temptation we face today. Whether from fear of disappointing Him, or to avoid honestly admitting our sin, we try to run. Whatever we do we must not break communion with God. We must remain steadfast in prayer through the pain, through the embarrassment, through the consequences and allow Him to do His work.

We must have the determination of that wounded tree set to the harsh winds of winter and dig deep with strong roots in Christ. Anchored deep into fertile soil soaked with His life-giving blood. And wait for the promise of the new growth of Spring.

Paul’s advice for the Romans to think rightly of themselves applies to me as well. It is to my detriment to think more highly of myself than I ought [Rm 12:3]. I must begin with the painful, yet advantageous, process of allowing God to see the good, bad and the ugly within. To examine my heart and recognize the gaping wounds that require His grace.

There is a season we approach in our relationship with Jesus when we must get real with Him. I must determine to drop the pretense and shameful covering. Bare myself to the God of all grace just as the trees drop their leaves in due season.

The question then becomes will I opt for a transference from feeling:

• Hidden to open with God
• Fake to real with Him
• Wounded to healed
• Ashamed to peaceful
• Incomplete to whole
• Ugly to lovely
  

Yes, the world will try to reshape us, leaving scars along the way. But grafted into the Branch of Jesse we will experience healing at His compassionate Hand and will be made beautiful by our Creator. We will truly experience the blessedness of an authentic relationship with Jesus that allows Him to grow.

El-Roi, Our All-Seeing God; I bare my heart, mind and soul to You. I want to be real with You and move from reserved and guarded to open and honest with You. Show me those things within me that must be dealt with so that You might dwell in its place; ever-increasing the space You reside in within my heart. In Christ, Amen.