Avoidance

There are some people that I try to avoid. When I see them coming, I turn and head in the opposite direction, and hope that they didn’t see me. If I see them passing by my house as I’m heading towards my front door, I pause and wait until they are out of sight before I open the door to go out. If I am in the grocery store and see them, I will turn down the first aisle and hope that they didn’t see me. I let out a sigh of relief if I am unnoticed.

A lot of times I feel this way about myself. There are times when I wish that it were possible to get out of my body and walk away. There are times when I when I avoid looking in the mirror because I don’t want to look into the eyes of the one that would be looking back at me. The person in the mirror can see past the veneer and see into the soul of the person he’s looking at. In this way, I can see what God sees.

In times like these, I am thankful that I am not standing before God because I would not be able to look into His all-knowing eyes. I am also thankful for the Word of God because it is helping me practice standing in His Presence by fixing my eyes on His Word.

God’s Word tells me that He loves me so much that He demonstrated it at the expense of His very own Son (John 3:16, Romans 8:32). God’s Word tells me that while I was still immersed in my sins, Jesus died for me (Romans 5:6, 8). The Word of God asks the question, “Who or what can separate us from the love of God?” It also answers its own question by declaring, “Nothing and no one!” (Romans 8:35-38) Repeatedly the Word of God says that God is faithful (II Timothy 2:13); that it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18); that if anyone is in Christ, he/she is a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17); and that God will complete the work that He began (Philippians 1:6). If that’s not enough, the Word of God reminds me that God is greater than the way I feel (I John 3:20).

I often stare at God’s Word and ask myself, “Do I wholeheartedly believe this?” I answer, “No, not yet” but I will continue to gaze at these gracious and precious words because I know that faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). I am hoping that one day soon I will be able to lift my eyes from the pages of Scripture and look adoringly into the eyes of the One who loves me.