Devotionals

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"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him, yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

1 John 1:5-7 (New International Version)


It's three days before Christmas. I am all alone in the house, since my son is in the States visiting his paternal family, and my sister and niece are in a cruise trip in the Caribbean. Only God, my dog Azabache and I remain here. I don't like being alone. You see, when you are alone, your masks fall on the floor and the reflection that looks back from the mirror tells you of places hidden in the heart that you would love to see buried down. In those places, my weaknesses dwell. I don't want to see my weaknesses. What would my brothers and sisters n the faith would think of me? That I lack faith? That I am not spiritual enough? That my relationship with God is superficial? That I don't pray enough, or that I am not the warrior I let the rest of the world see?

You see, I don't want them to know that even believing and praying and fasting... I am vulnerable. That beneath it all, I have fears too. But oh! A little light flickers in the darkness of my doubts. That light is called GRACE. The grace Christ gives me screams to the heavens that I can come as I am. The grace He gives me says that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Instead of condemning me for my mistakes, He forgives me and takes me out of the hiding place to get me to His side. And better yet, the masks I tried to hide who I am fall down and let authenticity takes their place.

When authenticity takes the place of the lie, that is when the body of Christ takes an important role. A brother or a sister that have been walking this path happens to be depressed, or maybe sad, or maybe has some doubts or fears, or feels weary. The natural answers to these states of mind are: "Have you prayed lately?" "Don't let Satan maul your spirit, you are in victory!", "Maybe you should fast more" or the classic "Maybe you did something and God is punishing you for your sins"... Let me tell you this concept that I have discovered recently: if we say that we are connected to the Spirit of the Lord, walking in light, but we hide from God and the rest of the world our sins, our battles, and our tribulations, we are just behaving like the Pharisees in Jesus' time: over religious and over critical. And Jesus hates the lack of authenticity because that takes away our spiritual vision. If we are honest with God and the rest of the world, then we can all walk in light. If we want to pretend that we do not have sins, battles, problems, that we get hurt or are hurt, then we should change churches, because simply put, that is NOT TRUE. Only when we decide to walk in transparency and be honest, the grace of God steps in and THEN we are able to pray for one another and help one another to grow.

So, the final question is: when I take a look in the mirror and see my reflection, will I let God go into the hidden places of my heart? You know, my answer is YES. Only then am I going to be able to have a closer relationship with God, and only then can I help my brother or sister that is in need. The best gift you can give this Christmas is to put the mask down and be who you are meant to be in Jesus because the truth shall set you free.

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