A Life without Shadows: Coming Out of the Shadows
David Cawston
James 1:13-17
Introduction:
Wow how great it must be to live without fear, without mistakes and failures, without guilt, without skeletons in the closet, etc. That was the way Adam and Eve were created. Open, Transparent, Honest, Vulnerable!
But then sin entered the human race! Sin has changed us from what God intended!
Ever since the time of Adam and Eve we have lived in the shadows.
The very effect of sin causes us to hide.
Soon after we arrived at my husband's new duty station in Groton, Conn., I took our young son to the base hospital to take care of our health records. A Marine wearing a green, brown and black camouflage uniform, along with heavy combat boots, sat at his keyboard, entering our information. My son stared at him in awe, then turned to me and asked, "Mommy, does he think he's hiding?"
The very effect of sin causes us to hide. We don't want out imperfections to be seen because we will be rejected! We will be embarrassed! We will not be so well thought of! We will disappoint others! So we hide! We cover it up!
A small foreign car making the loudest, most irritating racket I had ever heard pulled into the auto-service shop that I ran. The woman behind the wheel drove it into one of our garage bays so the noise could be diagnosed. When our service manager explained the problem and estimated a high cost for repair, the woman slumped back in her chair, dismayed. "How much," she asked, "to install a very loud stereo instead?" --Robert Liparulo, Reader's Digest
We create false images of ourselves! We play silly games!
God looked for them and they were hiding.
The effect of sin causes us to deny!
We deny our sin to ourselves!
We deny it to others!
We continue in lying to get ourselves out of difficulty
We cover up our shame!
We shift the blame to someone else!
We are always blaming someone else for our problems.
"It was the woman who gave me the fruit ...
David Cawston
James 1:13-17
Introduction:
Wow how great it must be to live without fear, without mistakes and failures, without guilt, without skeletons in the closet, etc. That was the way Adam and Eve were created. Open, Transparent, Honest, Vulnerable!
But then sin entered the human race! Sin has changed us from what God intended!
Ever since the time of Adam and Eve we have lived in the shadows.
The very effect of sin causes us to hide.
Soon after we arrived at my husband's new duty station in Groton, Conn., I took our young son to the base hospital to take care of our health records. A Marine wearing a green, brown and black camouflage uniform, along with heavy combat boots, sat at his keyboard, entering our information. My son stared at him in awe, then turned to me and asked, "Mommy, does he think he's hiding?"
The very effect of sin causes us to hide. We don't want out imperfections to be seen because we will be rejected! We will be embarrassed! We will not be so well thought of! We will disappoint others! So we hide! We cover it up!
A small foreign car making the loudest, most irritating racket I had ever heard pulled into the auto-service shop that I ran. The woman behind the wheel drove it into one of our garage bays so the noise could be diagnosed. When our service manager explained the problem and estimated a high cost for repair, the woman slumped back in her chair, dismayed. "How much," she asked, "to install a very loud stereo instead?" --Robert Liparulo, Reader's Digest
We create false images of ourselves! We play silly games!
God looked for them and they were hiding.
The effect of sin causes us to deny!
We deny our sin to ourselves!
We deny it to others!
We continue in lying to get ourselves out of difficulty
We cover up our shame!
We shift the blame to someone else!
We are always blaming someone else for our problems.
"It was the woman who gave me the fruit ...
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