Beneath the Surface

Day Fourteen -

A few years back I wrote a devotional about things we hold on to just below the surface. I believe I used a rain -soaked road as an illustration. It's been a rainy day here, and this devo came back to mind.

As drivers, we get used to the roads that we travel on a regular basis. We take for granted their general condition, and we become so used to them that we drive them without really paying much attention to them. We become desensitized to our surroundings - we expect them to always be the same. Then the rain comes. A small amount of rain can turn a relatively safe road into something precarious. Just a few drops of rain causes the dirt and grime that is normally below the surface to turn the roadway into a slippery mess. One moment you are on sure footing, the next you are sliding - perhaps unable to stop. Once you get accustomed to the road, you might be able to correct yourself - drive more carefully - or you might slide until you crash. It's interesting how the road we travel, that is usually so benign, turns so quickly into something so dangerous; how we so quickly forget how dangerous it can actually be when the sun comes out and dries up the moisture.

Our lives as Christians are sometimes not all that different. In good times, we bask in the glow of Christ's light without really thinking about what it truly means to live a life following Christ. Our worship and devotion becomes routine - something more like just going through the motions. Sure we believe in Jesus, but as we journey on we become desensitized to what his sacrifice truly means to our lives. Yes we trust him, as long as things are going as we planned. Then trials come, and all of the junk that we hold beneath the surface starts rearing its ugly head. Maybe it's anger, frustration, fear, hate, pride, or the need to control. Whatever it is, if we aren't paying attention, if we haven't drawn closer to God, if we've ignored it instead of dealt with it, "it" becomes an open door in our lives for the enemy to come right through. Becoming content to go through the motions of religion without any true spiritual depth leaves us vulnerable to losing our way when difficulty comes. You may know every word of the Bible, but it does you no good if you don't know Christ - the living word. Knowledge and application are two very different things.

So what do you do? You dig deeper. It's not an easy process. You may see things in yourself you didn't realize were there. I know I have. God has revealed so much to me about myself in just the first few weeks of Lent. God knows your heart, and he loves you just the same. He knows everything about you, but you have to be willing to give it all to him. He is our restoration and our strength in our weakness.

I keep thinking of the song, Dig, by a band called Love Like Gravity. I love the lyrics: "Inching closer to the origin, beyond the current trends I follow. I brush the surface but it's not enough...We try to cut our way through stone, exposing layers so long concealed...If you want to live, dig right in."

So dig!