Getting Raw

Webster Defines the word Raw as: being in or nearly in the natural state : not processed or purified, not diluted or blended, unprepared or imperfectly prepared for use, not being in polished, finished, or processed form...

Wow! What if we came to God that way everyday..RAW. I know in my own life that there have been times that I feel guilty for not being all put together and polished. The enemy beats me down with accusations of not being a good example, or still having struggles in my life. The truth is that God desires us to be naked before Him. To not put on nice clean clothes of religion, but to come before Him RAW, unprepared, and imperfect. Because in the place of naked honesty we realize despite all our impurities Daddy loves us. That in our weakness His strength really is shown in us. When you look at the people Jesus ministerd to...not one of them had there stuff together...One woman was caught in the act of adultery and drug before Him naked, and what does He do? In her nakedness and unprepared state Jesus grants her mercy and hope and she becomes a disciple. (John 8:3-11)

The woman at the well was in adultery and had been divorced several times, yet Jesus goes out of His way to meet her, and set her free from guilt, and turns her into an evangelist that changes an entire city. (John 4)

The point is that I want to encourage you today to be honest before God. Be RAW before Him. Don't pretend to have all your junk together...be open with the struggles you are going through and the sins you are overcoming...Let the love of God pour over you in your weak un-polished state, and let the Grace of God encourgae you to overcome today. I leave you with this thought..here is what Jesus thinks about the whole issue of being RAW and honest before Him:

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

- Luke 18:10-14