Compartmentalized Christianity – Hiding Parts Of Your Heart From God?

By //  by 

When I was younger, I compartmentalized many things, and there were areas of my life and myself that never “touched”. As a pastor’s kid, there was my public life where I was polite and smiled and played my role. Privately,I was a whole other person.

Compartmentalized

As a Christian, I treated God the same way. I didn’t realize it until looking back, but clearly my attitude was “Come into my heart…oh, not that corridor!” or “Yes, Holy Spirit please sanctify me…but let’s not go there”. I clearly wanted a religion and relationship that was on my own terms, and a transformation that was based on my own comfort.

One of the scriptures that come to my mind with this is Revelation 3:20:

19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

As I stated before, in my post on the wilderness, Christ here is speaking to believers as this letter is written to the church at Laodicea. It’s important to point this out because this scripture is often used for evangelistic purposes. Here, Jesus (whom the recipients have) is at the door asking to be let in. He was confronting a people who clearly had not allowed Christ to permeate their whole being!

I bring this up on this website, because many times our finances are one of those compartmentalized topics. I’ve known many believers who are comfortable as long as they’re tithing, but refuse to invite God to the finances that the church can’t see. They are ashamed of their debt and bad decisions. Many are too proud to ask the church for help when emergencies happen. Others know that the consequences of some of their financial decision-making was wrought in sin, but it becomes easier to justify those actions, than repent.

Finances are a great example of this, but the breadth of this behavior goes so much deeper. Many of us have it in our minds that God doesn’t have anything to do with the mundane occurrences in our daily lives. The truth is, not only does He have a part to play in every detail, but we should also invite God into every detail.

There is nothing we put our hands to that shouldn’t be prayed about. There isn’t a conversation we enter that doesn’t need the Lord’s leading so we guard our hearts from slander, gossip, or the selfishness of our own opinions. There isn’t one decision that should not be taken to God in prayer where we surrender to His will above all else.

Having a recognition of God in everything we do allows us to be open to the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work in our lives and sensitive to His leading. It also allows us to recognize God’s magnificence and the wisdom to be humbled by it.

Many of us have places in us where we need to let the Light in. For some, it may be areas of hurt that are tender to the touch. For others it could be ignorance that every area of our life should be a reflection of the life of Christ in us. There are so many scenarios where Jesus is standing at the door.

My brother or sister who is reading this, please be encouraged that Jesus sees, He cares, and He understands those undisclosed areas of your heart and life.

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.


Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

My prayer for us, as believers, is that we would yield every area of our lives to the Lord. I pray that we allow the Holy Spirit to do His perfect work in us, so that we will continuously grow into the image of Christ.

“Christ says ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. . . . Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked — the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.'”
-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

 

Have you noticed this tendency to compartmentalize things in your own life?

Have you realized there were situations and circumstances you were dealing with while leaving God out of the picture?

What are some steps you have taken to ensure God is at the forefront of the various aspects of your life?

 

 

The Wilderness – Learning To Lean On Christ During The Hard Times

By //  by 

“We all like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, each one, to his own way.” ~Isaiah 53:6

Each Sunday, I try to post a devotional thought for you to meditate on. Sometimes it will be something out of my own studies and prayers. Other times – like today – it will be from another source.

Today, I am posting a very personal piece written by Sherrian about learning to trust in God during the difficult times:

Wilderness

I was reading something  recently where someone was comparing the wanderings of the children of Israel to their own life. It is quite a common thing to do, and understandably so . I’ve heard many sermons where Christians are compared to those stiff-necked people in one way or another, or even the way African American slaves viewed their plight as parallel to the Israelites trying to flee Egypt.

One of the most memorable titles of a sermon I got to hear was, “Lord, you got me out of Egypt, now get Egypt out of me!” As humorous as that is, it is also a sincere cry to be free from the sin within, now that we’re free from the bondage of sin.

Even now as my daily Bible reading is taking me through the books of the Law, it is impossible to ignore the legacy of sin that is regenerated with every human that is born. “We all like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, each one, to his own way.” ~Isaiah 53:6

What we constantly want is our own way, even if that way leads to destruction.

Reading what God’s people went through is like watching a scary movie. The audience may be aware a killer is lurking around a corner, and cries out to the tv screen for the character not to wander there, but you know they can’t/won’t heed your cries.

Having heard a lot of these bible stories since childhood, I want Israel to make different decisions. It’s hard not to think, “but God’s presence is right THERE with you. So much you’re afraid to go near. So much that you could die! How could you still sin? Choose life. Choose God!”

Then I’m drawn back to the reality of my own life. “but God’s Spirit is right HERE within me. So much that I don’t have to fear approaching the throne of grace. So much that I never have to fear death again! How could I still sin? Choose life. Choose God!” Yet sometimes I want to return to “Egypt” like they did.

At one point, the Israelites were hungry and all they could think about was the type of food they had in Egypt. They all of a sudden forgot the heavy burden, the harsh treatment, the abuse – they just remembered some food. Some paltry meal, some small satiation that was forgotten in the moments it was devoured.

That is me.

For the believer, sin comes at a price. We don’t relish in our sin, we hate our sin. We understand the way it hurts God, and holds consequences for others in our lives. Yet, for various reasons, motives, and periods of time, we still allow ourselves to be caught in the deceitfulness of sin.

We allow ourselves to be lied to, forgetting the hurt and the consequences, the shame and the regret. We allow the momentary pleasure to seem much more lasting and far reaching in our minds than the paltry morsel that it truly is.

When we’re in a wilderness (yeah, I’m being allegorical too :-D ), a hard place, a place of testing, a place of lack, it is tempting to want to go backwards. For me, I just hate the build up of what I’ve left behind as something more satiating and grandiose than what’s really there. Why lie to myself? Why believe the lie?

The truth is, the cross is EVER before me. Christ says to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” What’s even more interesting is before that in verse 17 Christ says, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” They were also believing a lie! They were fooling themselves. Yet, he offers them Himself. He doesn’t leave them there.

They didn’t realize their need for Christ. Not a one-stop need (this passage isn’t about initial salvation, this passage was TO believers), but a constant neediness that keeps us moving forward towards Him!

Sometimes the hardest thing for me is knowing when something is REALLY in my heart as opposed to just a strong momentary desire, or a conviction that just isn’t as deep-rooted as it should be. Know what I mean? It feels real, but doesn’t mean that it is.

That’s how I feel about acknowledging my need for Christ. It’s head knowledge. I can say it. I believe it. I don’t always ‘feel’ it – because things aren’t always going wrong, or things are going too wrong. I want it to be rooted in my heart, so that when I’m tested, I’ll be purified.

Revelation 3:18-20 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net