Don't be a whitewashed tomb.

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

Matt did a wonderful job last Sunday talking about having God come into your house, but not letting Him come into certain rooms with-in your house. this was a great analogy of inviting God into your life, but not letting Him into your whole life. 

I have talked with you before about the elder that wanted to make a rule about not wearing shorts to church. He wanted people to clean up on the outside and look presentable; at least presentable to his standards. How I explained to him that God is more interested in how you clean up your insides than what you are wearing on the outside. 

Whitewashed tombs. 

Jesus called the Pharisees and Sadducees (Pastors of the day) Whitewashed tombs. How they looked really good on the outside but were dead on the inside. 

Have you ever driven by roadkill, a dead animal on the side of the road? Often times you can smell it long before you see it, and you can smell it long after you drove by it. Dead things stink. 

Don't be a whitewashed tomb. 

The funny thing is God is omnipresent (everywhere at once), how he does that, I don't know, I am not Him. The funny thing about being omnipresent is that you are everywhere. 

The funny thing about being everywhere is there is not place you can't be, even if someone does not want you there.  

So the idea that we don't invite God into any certain rooms, please, in our lives, doesn't mean He doesn't see them. No, it simply means that we do not acknowledge that He is in them. We go on as if we are hiding something from God. 

Oh, did I mention that God is omniscient? Omniscient simply means, all knowing.

The funny thing about God being all knowing is, God knows everything, even if we don't want Him to. 

So who really isn't looking into those places, looking into those rooms?

Do you know who is not omnipresent? It is us, we are not omnipresent.  

The funny thing about not being omnipresent is, we have the ability to not go into certain rooms, to close doors and hide things, not from God, but from ourselves and others. 

Do you also know who isn't omniscient ? It is us, we are not omniscient.

The funny thing about not being omniscient is, we can't be in multiple rooms at the same time. So we close doors behind us, so we can hide things that we don't want to see or have others see. 

It is these rooms, these places in our lives that keep us from being in true relationship with God. It is us closing a door to ourselves.

The funny thing is, we close the door out of fear that if God sees in that room He will not love us. But as we already talked about, He already not only sees into that room He is standing in the middle of it. 

So is the reason you have a secret room because you don't want to look at it? Do you have a secret room because you are trying to please man? 

Paul (Yes, that is his real name) Asked, am I trying to please God or man?  

A question we have to ask ourselves, "Am I trying to please God or man. Is that secret room, that secret place so important that I am willing to keep God at arms length over it?"

Something to ponder.

Let go and let God.

Blessings,

Roger