13. As I bring my real self to Jesus, I experience freedom and healing.
(Before looking at the questions below, take a few minutes to think about this statement. Invite Jesus to speak to you about what He would like you to notice.)
HOW MIGHT OUR REFUSAL TO ADMIT OUR FAILURES KEEP US IN BONDAGE?
WHAT DO YOU SENSE IS THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE YOU FACE IN EMBRACING YOUR REAL SELF?
We are designed to live in relational wholeness with others, to love and be loved without judgment or control, and to flourish emotionally and spiritually with others and with God. This description is beautiful and even alluring. However, the diseases of the soul infect us and often keep us from experiencing this reality. It may be that we are infected at birth, that we catch the disease from our parents, or that we are infected by the diseased culture around us.
These diseases may be different in each person, but they seem to cluster around the following descriptions: 1 an unhealthy thirst for approval; 2 an obsessive need for power or control; 3 an overactive pursuit of pleasure; and 4 a continual striving for security. Each of us has at least one of these diseases and we suffer because of it.
Our diseases work against the relational wholeness that we were created for and the loving relationships that we desperately need. They make us afraid: of not having enough, of not being enough, of not knowing enough, of not being in control, of not being accepted, and of being harmed. From this position of fear, we typically respond by pretending: that we have more than others, that we are better than others, that we are in control of others, that we are more powerful than others, and that we know more than others.
But pretending doesn’t heal our disease and often makes it worse. Our pretending keeps us from being healed by convincing ourselves that we really don’t have the disease. If we don’t believe we are sick, we also don’t believe we need healing and will not seek this healing. Our “real self” is our diseased self. When we bring our real self to Jesus, admitting that we are infected and suffering and no longer pretending to hide our fear, healing can begin and wholeness can start to emerge.
The first sign of wholeness is freedom from needing to carry the burden of pretense. When this happens, we begin to encounter the grace of God’s forgiveness. The safety and energy of this freedom can then provide us what is needed to begin to address our particular disease and to invite the Spirit to begin His healing work. The Spirit reveals the unhealthy symptoms of our disease, helps us resist these symptoms, and shows us that God deeply delights in us despite our diseases.
There is a Trinitarian force at work here: Jesus provides the grace that creates the environment for us to freely access the healing work of the Spirit who reveals to us the love of the Father that is more than enough to meet our every need and transform our broken real self into the true self He envisioned when He created us.