DENIAL: a refusal to believe or accept something as the truth.
We heard the fire sirens before we realized what was going on. They grew steadily louder and louder, and next thing you know they began streaming into the parking lot. What's going on? Why all the commotion?
Directly out in front of the church was a disabled vehicle. The fuel line had ruptured and left the car stranded on the shoulder of the road in a pool of gasoline. While there was no visible flames, the fire truck was positioned in a way where they sprayed the hood of the vehicle continuously to be certain. Emergency responders also poured kitty litter type bags of containment sorbent in all directions around the vehicle to be certain the threat did not spread.
All the while, the driver refused to leave her vehicle. She simply could not come to grips with what she was experiencing. As wild as this scenario may seem, denial is something that every business, organization, and individual deal with at some level. What everyone else can see easily in you, is a blind spot for yourself.
Oftentimes, as in this illustration, denial is driven by fear. Fear of past failures that have tripped you up, or fear of future failures that can freeze you up. Celebrate Recovery has been effective helping people break the fear choke-hold of denial by pointing us back to Christ. These truths are not just for those in recovery, but are consistent for every believer to grab hold of. Here is what the acronym DENIAL stands for:
Disables our feelings
Energy lost
Negates growth
Isolates us from God
Alienates us from our relationships
Lengthens the pain
Our denial keeps us in the dark but remember, God's light shines on the truth.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 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 cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:5-7
Walking out of your denial is not easy. Taking off that mask is hard. Everything about you shouts, "Don't do it! It's not safe!" But it is safe here. Safe in the arms of Jesus. We invite you to discover your place in Christ today. I'd love to show you how. Perhaps today is the day!
Pastor Milo
@milowilson
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