OUR TRUE FACE

         One of the keys to freedom in life is when we finally understand that all sin is rooted in selfishness, born of thinking that we can show the world one face while hiding our true feelings and motives. Somehow we convince ourselves that our thoughts are separate from God, that He does not know what we are thinking, that only when I speak or act would He be aware or even pay attention. In light of what we have learned about the Presence of God, this thinking is weak at best and downright delusional at its worst. The natural outcome of this thinking is to shut us off from the sunlight of the spirit as surely as burying our head in the sand cuts us off from sunlight.

       I need to get a little personal here, so please forgive me. When this truth hit me, it sent me into a tail spin. All those things that I thought I had so neatly hid from God, in truth had been always open to Him. Fortunately I was saved, though new to the path at the time I had learned enough to know that I would be forgiven as soon as I asked, that the only unforgivable sin is to turn ones back on God and deny Him, and that sin is erased as soon as we turn to Him with an open mind and heart. As the truth and import of this rolled over me I found myself on my knees, asking God to remove from me any remaining illusions that there is anything about me that He does not know or is separate from Him.

       This marked the point in my life when “forgive us our trespasses” from the Lord’s Prayer became known to me in my heart. I began to accept His forgiveness in my life that day and the process of understanding how important it is to truly forgive others began. Though this happened years ago, its lesson is as fresh today as then. Shalom.