If you have heard me teach, chances are you have heard me teach on Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.” (2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV)
I used to teach that if you wanted to experience god and god’s strength, you had to be fully committed, in my world this meant unquestioning, fanatic obedience. The word that the NIV translates as “fully committed” and the KJV translates as “perfect” is shalem which means safe, complete, whole. So the implication is to give your whole heart to god.
This morning I watched this:
This video really encapsulates the shift in my perspective instead of the fanatical blind obedience I now believe that to be able to surrender your true heart, you must first find it or maybe re-discover it and release it. This quest is a quest of raw honesty, intellectual and emotional integrity, vulnerability and transparency.
Thomas Merton writes in New Seeds of Contemplation
FOR me to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self.
This is not as easy as it may sound as Dag Hammarsköld said: “the journey inward is the longest journey” it requires the courage to admit to yourself who you really are, accept yourself and start from the true point of self.
The question is do we dare to start looking inside, to face who we really are and accept imperfect selves?
