Jesus said, "the truth shall make you free."
I'm reading a book entitled Bring it On! women embracing midlife written by Christine carter Schaap. I began reading this book because I found myself not quite happy and I didn't know why. I found myself critically looking at my reflection not liking what I saw. I found myself not finding joy in what I typically found joy in. I found myself discouraged but not understanding why. And oh yes, it sounds like a stereotypical thing to say but I was dealing with that midlife point that many call a midlife crisis. Once you know what you are dealing with it can be addressed and changed.
So I am dealing with it and seeking God on the matter and letting Him work through it with me.
I wonder though if many people find themselves in this place no matter their age?
We let so much junk into our lives -- stuff we don't even pursue. Our insides can be just like our homes -- as you live in a home year after year you accumulate stuff you might not have even sought out. People give you stuff. You find stuff. The process of living brings a bunch of stuff to your door. You let it all into your home and try to find places for it. Before you know it your home is stuffed with stuff you don't need.
We do the same with our insides. Maybe we see commercials that tweek that contentment in us, that plant seeds of discontent, seeds we don't even notice. Maybe comments and attitudes and opinions from others start filling up our insides and we forget what we know to be true. Stresses at work, stresses at home, negative thoughts from our own selves; childhood beliefs we've never examined; tangent decisions that sent us in directions that got us off course; trying to live in our own strength without God's; making decisions based on "common-sense" rather than God's wisdom . . .
All of this and more will fill us full of stuff that just needs to be purged. We get so used to being filled with this kind of stuff we can't see our own selves through it. We get lost within and find that our biggest goals is to pay the bills or to watch our favorite TV show. Life is more than this.
Jesus has so much more for us.
He said, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you." John 15:16
And He said, "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly." John 10:10
Is the thief stealing the space inside you? Have you, have I allowed the thief of this world to fill us with useless stuff that hides who we really are?