Hard Hats and Crowns

Recently, as I have talked with several people, stuff has come up. You know....like stuff.

Like sin.

That word that we don't want to talk about.

Also, I have been reading a book by Craig Groeschel, entitled "Confessions of a Pastor". He gets it all out there.

And that started my brain to cooking.

I was thinking about how we tend to brush stuff under the rug of our hearts, so to speak.

Get a picture. Say we stole a piece of candy at age 6, and by the time we are 30, we are stealing from the office, or from our parents. Ouch.

Or maybe we were shown a nude picture when we were 8, and by the time we are 30 or so, (that age is sticking!) we are into full-blown porn.

Or try this one. What if when we were three, we were made fun of so badly, that from then on we grew to hate ourselves. So that by the time we were adults, we hated ourselves so badly, that we covered up with make-up. Had to have our hair just perfect. Don't want to look bad. As bad as we feel on the inside about ourselves.

So by the time we are adults, we have swept so much under there, that the rug is covering the mountain in the middle of our living room. Like in the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", where he builds a mountain in the family room.

And along with the dirt, are old pictures. Documents of lies. Daggers aimed at ourselves. Rusted dreams.

And if we allow someone to peek under the rug, they lay it down real fast. It stinks under there. Oooo, compost.

But what if. What if we allowed our Jesus to lift up a corner. And bring His broom and dustpan. Or really get down, with His backhoe loader, and articulated dump truck. Or His waste handler dozer! (Check out the John Deere site - I love it!)

Jesus is sitting in the operator's seat with His hard hat on, moving all of the levers. Picking up a load and moving it to the dump truck. And back for more.

Soon that mountain in the room of our hearts is getting smaller and smaller as we let Him move more out. As we submit to His cleansing. It's not fun. It hurts.

But.

As He gets us closer and closer to where He wants us to be, He gets more and more tender with us. He whispers into our heart and washes us clean.

Gentleness.

Wholeness.

Soon there will be nothing under the rug, but our hearts.

Then He takes the hard hat off, and exchanges it for the crown that He is best known for. The King of Glory meets His Bride.

©BL2007