Hiding in Plain Sight

We spend our lives trying to be seen by people all the while, God is examining what other people don't see. That's what he's looking at. Denial feels safe, but freedom comes from living fully seen. How do you dwell without fear? You stop hiding. It's simple. It's not easy. When we step into the light, shame loses its power, healing begins, authority grows, [00:06:02] (26 seconds)  #LiveFullySeen

God's goodness and mercy, he says, have chased me down my entire life. There was nowhere to hide. But this isn't a fugitive. This isn't a man who's fleeing from God's goodness and mercy. No. He's not scared to be found out. He's been found, and he's been set free because of it. [00:04:30] (20 seconds)  #ChasedByMercy

joy can actually return because God sees what is hidden. It doesn't matter how well you've hidden it. God sees it. I just wanna I wanna stop there today. God sees it and that's not scary. That's actually a good thing because God sees it and he reveals it to heal it. I wanna start there. God sees what other people don't. [00:06:29] (24 seconds)  #HiddenSeenHealed

Because if we refuse to be found out, if we stay in hiding our entire life, if we don't let God search beneath the surface, then we keep managing our appearances and we stay unfinished. Well, why does that sound so bad? We stay spiritually immature. That's what unfinished looks like. We keep repeating the same relational, the the the the racial conflicts over and over and over again. [00:04:50] (27 seconds)  #StopStayingUnfinished

Stay unfinished. We don't never get into the surface beneath the surface. We pass hidden dysfunction onto the next generation. Anybody else say, oh, I'm becoming my parents. Yeah. It's it's in there. It's in hiding squirreled away. K? We forfeit authority. Even if we grow in our influence, we don't grow in integrity, which is why we can't stay unfinished. [00:05:18] (23 seconds)  #BreakTheHiddenCycle

We think it's safe there, so we dwell there. But what if hiding is not safe? What if that is actually the least safe place that you can be? When you're living in hiding, you're always looking over your shoulder, aren't you? That's why when we talk about Psalm twenty three six, it says that something is following you. [00:03:02] (17 seconds)  #HidingIsNotSafe

Jesus' finishing work goes into the hidden places, the places that are beneath the surface. And that's where so many of us live though. We want we hear the goodness and mercy part of that verse and we're like, yes. That's what I came to church for. Goodness, mercy. But we hide from the God that brings it. We're fleeing. We're running. [00:05:41] (21 seconds)  #JesusHealsHiddenPlaces

I'm just proving why this is that's not what I am, and I'm not in the band. Alright? You you feel like something's following you. Something's watching you. Right? The question is, what follows you when you hide? I think if we get honest again, then we would say there's fear that follows us, shame can follow us, Anxiety can follow us. Insecurity follows us. We're always looking our shoulder. When you're living and hiding, you're insecure. [00:03:36] (28 seconds)  #FearShameFollow