HE went on:
“What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immortality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
~Mark 7:20-23
The awesome is not arrogance, a self-subsisting egomaniacal way of living that allows for no outside influence. While it should not bend to the wind of criticism, nor shudder in the storms of falsity, it should reach evermore toward the light, stretching out of the shadows and into life filtered through rays of golden promise. It should warm, sustain, grow.
The awesome is both anchored and fluid. Immovable when rooted in truth; yet constantly in motion, a river sliding through cruel wilderness, adjusting course in relation to the landscape, increasing as it moves toward journey’s end, to be welcomed home into the vast ocean.
Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in Mark 7:14-15 resounding in my ears today:
Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.
What is defiling me? What is marring my awesome? Lord, help me to buff away the tarnish that has dulled my shine. I want so much to reflect your brilliance in the eyes of those who behold me, so they may always see your handiwork in me. Let me be pliable in your hands, as you smooth away the course edges of me, revealing even more of your design in my awesome.
Within the context of Jesus’ words, and the continuing conversation of reclaiming awesome, Ann Voskamp spoke truth into my awesome today. Because my awesome is pliable in the Master’s hands (Lord, may it ever be so!). Recognizing that in my awesome resides my happiness, my joy, I will defer today to Mrs. Voskamp, her question penetrating my awesome with quiet instruction:
Why do I allow creeping annoyance sabotage my own happiness? Is anything worth sacrificing joy?[1] Lord, help me not to sacrifice my awesome, my joy. Let my stave off the creeping annoyances of daily living and the imperfection of this fallen world. Let my eyes seek you when I doubt, when I crave undefiled awesome. And help me to always hear, let my awesome move through the undulating paces of life, being changeable, to be made even more beautiful in the journey, rooted in your truth.
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