Before becoming a high school teacher, I used to develop software. For me an intriguing aspect of that job is problem solving. I enjoy analyzing constraints, requirements, and key factors of a given issue and figuring out a way to address them effectively. On a larger project this is typically done in collaboration with others. The process can be frustrating if people, including myself, get stuck fixating on dead ends, roadblocks, or potholes rather than driving forward toward a solution.
From time to time I’ve noticed this in students also. When driving the road toward graduation sometimes they stall, crash, or veer off course because they become so absorbed or concerned with their life challenges or academic challenges that they can’t see clearly. Their anxiety and fear increase to the point that it closes them to finding a way to navigate through the obstacles. They fail to progress toward their desired destination. Fortunately, our faculty and staff intervene to try and help these students open up to a new way of seeing, thinking, and pushing through. When they do it’s rewarding to see them blossom and grow just as the beauty of a flower is revealed when it opens to the light of day.
Perhaps you are stuck from reaching your potential in some way because your vision, attitude, or actions have closed you down to the life-giving love and light only God can provide. That’s understandable. It happens to everyone because we tend to selfishly put ourselves before God and others. God sees you, he knows you, and he accepts you right where you are. However, he loves you too much to leave you there. He created you and has a much better life for you with him than without him. He loves you more than you can imagine. What you have done or haven’t done can’t alter his love for you. His love is not rooted in your worthiness. It is rooted in his character. God loves because he is love and nothing can change that. There is no prayer for help that he does not hear or answer. There is no sin he will not forgive, except to reject the only means of forgiveness which is his salvation offered through Jesus. There is no person he will turn away. There is no past he cannot redeem. He wants the best life for you which is to be with him, to be like him, and to do what he does. Jesus makes that possible. Anyone who believes in Jesus to save them from their wrongdoing can experience new, abundant, everlasting life with God. Your greatest blessing and beauty are revealed only when you open up to the light of the world, the light of life—Jesus.
Open Your Mind
Do you need to change your mind about God? Perhaps your image of him is distorted due to things you have heard, unmet expectations, or projecting an image of a poor earthly father onto him as a Heavenly Father. Perhaps you feel distant from God because of your sin or due to fear, worry, or doubt. I encourage you to taste and see that God is good and blessed is the one who takes refuge in him (Psalm 34:8). David, king of Israel wrote, “You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you” (Psalm 86:5). If you have put God in a box, open it up. Learn about the true God from his word, the Bible. Read about Jesus, God the Son, who became a man to show us who God is and how to joyfully live in unity with him. The book of John in the Bible is a good place to start.
When Jesus ministered on earth he visited a lame man who hadn’t walked for 38 years. The man was lying by the pool of Bethesda outside the temple in Jerusalem hoping someone would help him into the water. When Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed he said no one would assist him to get in the water. The man was fixated on the water as the only way he could be healed. But God works in ways beyond our finite reasoning for those who are open to him. Jesus told the man to get up, take up his mat, and walk. So, miraculously he did. The man opened his mind to a new approach to his problem, he opened his heart to believe, and he took action by obeying Jesus. Instead of wallowing in what was, he stepped into what could be by faith. His willingness to change his mind, his heart, and his action enabled him to receive the healing Jesus offered.
Move from fear to faith, from worry to waiting on God. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7). “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
Open Your Heart
Open yourself to be loved and saved by God. This starts by humbly recognizing you that you are broken, you have done wrong, and you need Jesus to save you (Romans 3:23-24, 6:23). He sent Jesus so you can know the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Confess your sin and receive his forgiveness (1 John 1:9). Be vulnerable before God and listen. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God” (John 3:16-21). Open your heart so the light of Jesus can eliminate any darkness of living to please yourself. Then let his light guide you and empower you to live for God and others before yourself.
Conclusion
Be faithful, available, and teachable as you seek to follow Jesus in your thoughts, values, words, and actions. Surrender your goals, dreams, and will to his better way. Open yourself to others by being honest, genuine, trustworthy, transparent, having integrity, and admitting your faults. Jesus will show you how to live joyfully and purposefully. He will teach you to seek out the lost, the last, the least, and the lonely, how to address their immediate need, as well as, their true spiritual need, how to engage them, and how to share new life in him. In the process of opening up to God and others God will save people and he will transform you into the beautiful person you are meant to be in Jesus.