One of many

I have had so many things stirring around in my heart over the last few weeks. 

Due to the random nature of writing (composing a draft while the idea is fresh), I take what I can... a scrap piece of paper, a voice note to myself, my journal or even the back of an MLS listing and write as many of my thoughts down as possible when all the words come to the surface.  It seems to grab a hold of me at times that may not be the most convenient to come and sit down at my computer and just get typing.

Because of this, I am going to be posting several chats in a row, maybe all today. Lots of thoughts about lots of things... and all just got me stirred up in some form or fashion. 

So, this is fair warning... I hope you have a minute to sit and stay a while. Grab a warm cup of coffee and join me for a little time to ponder some heart things... it is my joy that you join me here. 

Post 1: 

Valentines Day was a month and a half ago. 

Some of you just got all giddy (butterflies and all) and some of you just threw up a little in your mouth. Either way, you probably have some type of strong response. Maybe you have been so hurt by this day that you have turned off all emotion towards it at all. You have shoved it all down deep and refuse to acknowledge the day in any way, shape or form. 

My pastor was teaching last month about the Shape of Love. The question of the message was this, "When your life is shaped by love, what does it look like?"

You know, I have strong feelings about what it does look like and what it absolutely doesn't look like. I used to be so bitter about this Holiday in particular. I HATED it. When you are in a relationship with someone who doesn't really know how to love, it can be super confusing and painful. One day a year to be told you are loved or valued and 364.5 to be treated like you are worth nothing. Or every day you hear what you want to hear but all of the words are meaningless because they are never followed up by action - or worse yet, the actions prove out a completely different thing than love. 

Ouch. 

Christians preach the message that the Ultimate love comes only from one source. I happen to agree 100% with this teaching. However, I would say so many of these Christians (myself included) have at times been some of the most unloving people on the planet. In what they believe is true Christian love, they pound you with their theologies of works and their questions (intended to make you look inside and adjust something to "please" God more with your life), or they shun you or ban you or speak out strongly against one sin theme or another, but ultimately, they just create confusion about the TRUE Gospel.

Ouch again. 

Let me give you an example or two. 1. Homosexuality. 2. Abortion. 

You wanna talk about some HOT TOPICS. And "the religious" everywhere make a ridiculous mess of something that is SO SIMPLE. They go on and on using their social platforms to put down entire groups of people they do not know or care to understand in the name of "Christianity". That is not like Jesus, it isn't Christian, it is RELIGION. The religious are who Jesus condemned... not the sinners. Sheesh. The ones who had all of their checklists checked off - these are the ones that were so blinded to their own mess that Jesus called them a brood of vipers. 

Yes, I believe that homosexuality is sin. Sex outside of marriage = sinful. 
And I also believe:
Stealing paper clips from work is a sin. 
Billing for hours that you didn't actually work is a sin. 
Gossiping in the name of prayer requests = sin
Cheating on your taxes.... you guessed it... sin. 
That little "white lie" = sin. 
The selfishness you just showed your spouse = sin. 
Glancing lustfully at that billboard, or movie star, or person walking by = sin.
Losing your temper with your child because you are stressed out = sin.
Abortion = sin.
Cussing when you stub your toe = sin.
Drinking until you feel tipsy = sin.
Neglecting the Sabbath day = sin
Your arrogance in not being able to pinpoint any particular sin in your life = sin (just to spell it out, the sin of self-righteousness and pride is lurking, my friend). 

All of this... and many many more are why Christ had to come in the first place. Just because we have made some sins socially acceptable doesn't mean that we see like God.

What did Christ do with the sinners? What did He do with the woman caught in adultery? While the Pharisees were ready to stone her to death, He drew a line in the sand... He asked for the one without sin to cast the first stone. He demonstrated to the religious that their sin stunk to high heaven... just like hers.
In this past few years I have experienced an intense level of  Pharisaical judgment brought about by my own sin and the sinful response of those who felt more holy than I am.  

A lot of people leave the church altogether over things just like this. They assume God is the same as the people who are claiming to represent Him. 

I love God. I need community. I need other Believers. There are many many churches full of people who know how to love you through sin (Christlike) rather than hang you out to make an example of you. Being an instrument to bring shame is something the Devil does. Desiring to love and restore someone is the very merciful heart of God. 


Oh how I am thankful to God that He is so unlike man. 

Don't get me wrong. There is a Biblical recipe for someone caught up in sin. There is a process that is described for one who is set against God.  But, I would tell you, not one person who on "wise counsel" shunned me, knocked on my door or came to me in person.  Not one. Not one person who gave counsel to shun me had knocked either. Do you think that Jesus was pleased with this? Do you think this was loving?  

Oh mercy. Jesus forgive them, for they know not what they do and help me forgive them too. 
Jesus forgive me because I have been just like that myself. 


**sidenote** two people did come knock on my door. They did it the right way, and God bless them, they honored God in their coming. 

My point is this. Christians should be all about showing the love of Christ. Out of everyone, we should know from the depths of our soul what God has released us from, and God forgive us when we forget it... when we reach a place where we think we are so "cleaned up" we forget why we need a Savior in the first place. When you reach a place that you think you've got it, you really don't have anything at all. You can speak in the tongues of angels and be a loud gong... nothing but an annoyance. My Facebook feed is full to the brim of loud and clanging symbols. I have filled my own feed with clanging. Where is the LOVE?
Your normal "Christian" may not be anything like this loud mouthed (or loud on Social Media) friend or co-worker. What if there really are Christians who understand they are sinful too, and that their poop stinks just like yours? 

The world really does need love. There is but one lawgiver and judge. If we are to call ourselves Christians, let's get out of His way and be the hands and feet that He created us to be. Our condemnation of any act or group - no matter how sinful - does not prove how loving we are. It tells a completely different story about us.

Let's let our lives be marked by the way we love. Let it be marked by the way we spend ourselves on behalf of the weak, the poor and the ones who need Hope and Truth. Let's feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Stand beside the broken. Let's love. 

If you get all worked up over the gay and lesbian lifestyle, maybe Jesus is calling you to befriend someone who is in that lifestyle and LISTEN to them without judging them. Maybe if you get all worked up over abortion you should go volunteer some time at a place where you can be around the women who make up the majority of those who get abortions. Maybe you need UNDERSTANDING. Maybe you need to eat with sinners. Maybe you need to sit before God a bit and ask who you have hurt by your judgement and your clanging Facebook page. Maybe you need to show love and leave the judgement to the only One who can rightfully hold that position. 

When the world is going to hell in a hand-basket LOVE is the only thing that will help. Love SURROUNDS itself with hurting people. And with that, I will leave this post and head over to a whole new topic in the next week or so... 

Peace my friends. Peace and love from this broken sinner straight to you. 

Confusion, Fear, the Church and the battle for the Gospel

Today I have been steadily in battle to take back the ground of Truth in my mind.

I am thankful for friends who will stand beside me, under-gird me with prayer and wisdom. How necessary it is to have friends that consistently remind you of the Truth (and Power) of the Gospel.

My heart is very heavy because I have noticed my load had become burdensome again.  The weight of the world was literally on my shoulders.  It is so strange to know the Truth and to have experience with the Faithfulness of God, and yet still, slip back into moments where even what you know to be true doesn't hold it's ground against a particular storm that is raging. Faith begins wavering and fear creeps in.

I saw a sign at Kohls that said, "Let your faith be bigger than your fear."  

Each time I have seen it, I have been drawn to it.  I need to have my friend at 11th Street Lettering pen it for me so I can hang it big on my wall.  I have been given to fear recently.  Not just one fear, but many.  That is not the way of God.  That is not the will of God.  So, I sought out some wise counsel to help me find the root - and to press back into the Truth which rescues me from all fears.  The only thing I want to fear is my God.  And, I don't mean fear, like "what will He do to me next?", but in the way that He desires we fear Him - with deep understanding that "Perfect love casts out all fear" 1 John 4:18.

Psalm 34

I will extol the Lord at all times;

his praise will always be on my lips.

2I will glory in the Lord;

let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

3Glorify the Lord with me;

let us exalt his name together.

4I sought the Lord, and he answered me;

he delivered me from all my fears.

5Those who look to him are radiant;

their faces are never covered with shame.

6This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;

he saved him out of all his troubles.

7The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,

and he delivers them.

It was hard not to write out all of Psalm 34. It is just that good. Do yourself a favor and read through the whole thing today - like 4 times. You won't regret it.

Something that has been highlighted in my mind recently is that many good, God-fearing people have taken the way of Saul. It is devastating to the church.  Press in and hear what I am saying, because I think it is very important for this time in our Culture.  Many well meaning, but self-righteous people have become indignant that we make the Gospel something about us, and our obedience, rather than hanging it entirely on Jesus Christ.  Even now, if you are a Pharisee, I can sense the hairs beginning to bristle on your neck.  Something inside of you is so offended.  You believe you hold the power to judge a man's salvation by his works, or by one particular action. The spirit that accompanies those dangerous beliefs are so argumentative and defensive.  You feel like you are protecting God and the truth.  You probably feel exactly like Saul did as he was "breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples." (Acts 9)

Saul was a Jew.  He was brought up to fear God and to serve Him.  He knew all of the laws by heart.  He knew all of the customs well.  He had much knowledge and a true fear of God.  He was not pretending.  He was not fake.  But, he was deceived. In his mind, killing Christians (those who would follow Christ) was an act of SERVICE to God.  It was his duty.  It was his strong belief.  He did not hate God.  He sought to do right by God with all of his heart. But he was greatly deceived.

 He was so deceived that it took Jesus himself, returning from Heaven to convince him his acts of service and self righteous behavior were actually wrong.  

Very wrong. 

Jesus thought is was so important that He left Heaven (again) to reveal to Saul that he was blind... and then he had a man remove literal scales from Saul's eyes because he had been blinded by his beliefs about God, and about people who were not "religious" like he was.  

There is a warning to Shepherds in Ezekiel 34 - and I am struck by the description of the shepherds responses to the sheep.  But, God's heart is revealed as He talks about restoring the sheep that were mishandled by the shepherds.  It is a good read.  I encourage you to dive in and ask the Lord to teach you more about His character from that chapter - and the chapters surrounding it. 

It is so dangerous to our souls to believe that our salvation is based on something we do or don't do. Salvation belongs to our God.  Salvation is only through Jesus.  And it is a gift.  

The message of the Pharisee becomes heavy and burdensome for those of us who have not forgotten how desperately sinful we are.  They implore us to believe through their teaching that God is disappointed in us, that He is angry with us, that we should doubt our salvation if we still struggle in our flesh.  Those with the mind of Saul cannot see their own hypocrisy, or the ways that they are persecuting true believers.  They believe that somehow God has rescued them from their wretchedness, and thankfully the only sins they commit now are sins of omission (just to make themselves feel better because they cannot actually point to any sin currently in their lives) - even though they are riddled through with pride, murder (according to Jesus) and slander of their fellow believers.  It is scary.  The scales are real.  And the destruction they do in their blindness is heartbreaking.  I believe we have many Saul's declaring their message so loudly in the church these days that true believers are running, fearing for their lives - and fighting for truth to remain strong and louder in their souls than the accusations lobbied against them. The wounds that have been inflicted have done much damage to the message of the cross, but they will not stop the true Gospel, nor do they have the power to thwart God.

Have you been hurt by the church?  Have you been wounded by other believers?  Have you been made to doubt your salvation?  If so, I beg of you to pray. I beg of you to forgive.  I beg of you to ask God for a revelation for the Saul's in your life.  Ask God for a moment where the scales are removed and sight is restored.  Ask God to help you forgive those who have wounded you.  It is FREEDOM to do that.

The days are short.  Jesus is coming back.  His church must stop aligning itself with the enemy to tear apart the faith and power that was bestowed on believers to be manifest in the church, which is led by Christ - and not a man.  The answer is not to leave the church (although if the messages have become more about man's thinking than the truth of Jesus, you may consider leaving that particular church).  The answer is not to run away from a corporate body.  The answer is to seek out those who have not forgotten the Truth of the Gospel.  The answer is to seek out believers who are ALL BROKEN, but are desperate to worship God in Spirit and Truth.  The answer can not, and will never be found in man.  The only One who can make the wrongs right is God, and He did so through Jesus.  

Do not allow the weakness of man to determine how strong you believe God is.  

Do not let the anger of man convince you that God is not loving.  

Do not allow the foolishness of man to cause you to underestimate the Wisdom of God.   

I have not followed the story about Jen Hatmaker much, so please don't freak out that I bring her up. I think some things she has to say are funny.  Like, really funny.  I think there are some places where she nails it, and some places where she gets it desperately wrong. (Although in truth I have only read one of her articles and seen a few quotes here and there from her, so my knowledge on the subject is limited)  And so many people are just devastated by her statements.  Why?  Because they set their sights on a PERSON.  A broken person with good intentions.  They sought their truth and their wisdom from her, rather than from God's Word and God's Spirit.  That is always devastating.  People are broken.  People get it wrong all the time.  I get it wrong all the time. 

Read the Word.         Study the Word.             Fall in love with the Word. 

Don't settle for one message a week that points you to the Word.  Seek out the Word in your own time and ask God to be near as you study.

Pray for God to reveal Himself to you, in the quiet places. Pray for a fellowship where you can worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Ephesians 3:10 says, "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms." God will make known his wisdom through a body of believers.  But read this, you need a fellowship that worships in Spirit and in Truth. Not only Truth - with no room for the Spirit... and not in Spirit only, with no firm grasp on the Truth. John 4:21-24 says it like this, "Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

Do you see it? The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. Another of my favorites is this: 2 Chronicles 16:9, "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." Oh Lord, help us to be wholehearted, fully committed to you - and you alone. Not to the teachings of mere men who have the appearance of wisdom - the living Bible says it this way, "These rules may seem good, for rules of this kind require strong devotion and are humiliating and hard on the body, but they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person’s evil thoughts and desires. They only make him proud." (Colossians 2:23)

God help us to remember you are searching, seeking, pursuing us.  You are not disappointed in us, angry with us and out to get us.  You are good and you seek to restore and heal and help.  You do not seek us to destroy us.  You are not out to get us.  You have not abandoned us.  Please be with those who believe they are doing good in your Kingdom, who are actually persecuting Jesus with their zealousness.  Please help us to forgive, to move forward... to encourage and uplift.  To give grace and extend love and mercy.  Please God, help us to become what we can't become without YOU.

Please hear me.  I am not suggesting you leave your church that preaches truth to go on a hunt for a church that is more "spirit filled", but I am praying and hoping if your church is heavy in Truth and light in the Spirit, you cry out to God to come again and fill that place with His Spirit.  And, I pray that if you are in a church that is heavy in Spirit, but lacking in Truth teaching, that you will cry out to the Lord for the Truth to grab hold.  And whatever group you fall in with, that  God will set the balance right in your own heart (AND MINE TOO!!) as well as the corporate body you worship alongside. Oh that we would be the generation that worships Him in Spirit and in Truth that will usher in the King of Glory with our worship.   

The Gospel is the good news that Christ came to set us FREE (not put us in bondage). He came to save us from our wickedness (because we will NEVER get it right on our own).  He alone took the penalty of death - even went to Hell - so that we would not have to.  We simply have to believe. 

When a man (Siris) asked what he must do to be saved, he was told "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." Acts 16:31. Romans 10:9 says, that if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life - and no one comes to the Father, except through Him.  That is the Gospel.  He came to rescue and redeem.  He came to give life and life abundant.  The one that came to destroy us was the devil.  Please don't get the two confused!

If you have run from God and the church because you have been wounded... please consider starting with a simple prayer to the God who you may have come to misunderstand.  Ask Him to reveal Himself.  Set aside some time to just sit with Him.  Maybe put on some worship music.  Maybe sit with your Bible in your lap.  But, sit with Him and let your soul be still.  Believe that He is good.  He is altogether good.  Believe that He is for you and not against you.  Believe that He has a good plan for you.  Ask Him to show you how to rest in Him again.  How to open your heart up again to more pain that will come when you surround yourself with the broken people of the world.  But, go out and do what you were created to do.  Don't let people stop you from your God spoken destiny.  Every light, no matter how small overcomes the darkness.  Go out and shine and bring some hope to the weary ones.

Become.

What is your pain today?

That thing that has taken hold of your heart and it won't let you go, no matter how you writhe to get out from under it's suffocating grasp?

What is the voice in your mind that tells you that you'll never be enough - or you are just TOO MUCH?

Where are you just aching today?  Is there something inside that just screams out "THERE HAS TO BE MORE THAN THIS!!"

I am.  This morning, I have such a heavy heart.  Pain is everywhere.  It is unavoidable.  People spend much time, energy, and money to keep themselves from pain.  And yet, pain will find them, it will search them out - and it will crush every defense they thought they had.  Now, stay with me, I am not trying to be a "Debbie Downer".  I am getting around to hope.  Just hang with me for a minute.

We all build walls.  We all wear masks.  We all say what other people want us to say.  How many times in just one day do you lie to people when they ask you "Hey!  How are you?"  Almost always, "Oh, I'm fine...  and you?"  We are just trying to be nice.  They are just trying to be nice.  There is nothing essentially wrong with that.  But, I'm not talking just about the casual stranger.  I am talking about your friends.  Those that should be beside you to shoulder your burdens with you.  How many times do you really let them in on your fears?  How often do you open yourself up - getting really vulnerable?

I tend to spew my fears, my thoughts, my dreams... kind-of everything out to whoever wants to sit long enough to hear them.  So, here it is this morning... some of the deep stuff of my heart.

I long to worship.  Really worship.  When I saw "The Rend Collective Experiment" video for Build your Kingdom here - I wanted to drop everything, pick up my kids and find out where they are going next.  I want to go with them.  Now, I know that it isn't all campfires and cool instruments.  There is sweat, tears, travel...  pain... but the joy - the joy to worship with a group of like-minded people.  To travel and tell of the wonders of God's love and faithfulness...  it stirs something in me that I can't run from!  I want to sing always and forever of God's love and beauty.  (Sounds so cheesy right, and yet something in you must be stirred up like this is stirred up in me). 

I long to write and to read, and to sit with the Lord day after day and then share (maybe just one person at a time, or ten, or ten thousand...  I don't care the number) what the Lord is doing... what He is teaching.  How He is reaching my heart that constantly retreats from pain. 

You see, everyone is broken. 

I am.

People are praising me right now for the way I am handling the death of my son.  They put me on a pedestal in their minds.  They think they could never handle what I am going through in the way that I am handling it.  But, while, my heart has been sincere...  every Scripture posted to FB, every blog entry has been straight from the deep places in my heart... people don't see the broken parts - the sinfulness in me.  These things are not as visible...  and one thing I know about pedestals is that people come tumbling down - and the higher up they are put, the further they fall - and the more it hurts when they hit.  So, I am asking you to take me off that pedestal.  Apart from God's grace - I am wretched, pitiful, blind, poor and naked.  Really.  It is God's grace that keeps me upright.  It is God's grace that keeps bringing me back to center.

In my flesh: I am an adulteress.  I am selfish.  I am prideful.  I am full of lust and greed.  I am broken.  I am bitter and I am mean to people who hurt me.

But, because of Christ, and only by God's grace, I am clothed in righteousness.  I am full of peace and hope.  The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control.  I have access every day, all day long to all the beauty of Christ.  When I operate in it, people want to put me up high - in this lofty place.  But, I want to tell you that apart from God's grace - I cannot operate in it!  It is not me - it is Christ in me that is my hope of glory.  Over and over again I am realizing the deep truth of that.  I am human.  I am frail.  I am hurting.  I am desperate.  I am weak.  But, because of the Great I Am, I don't have to operate from those places.  I can lean on Christ's strength.  I can ask for His joy.  I can ask for His power to help me in every place that I am failing.  But, in my own strength, and in my own power, I am nothing.  I am just as wicked as any individual that has ever walked the face of this earth.

Today, I just want to be free from the labels that are put on me.  I want to be me.  Broken, but beautiful.  Unlovable, but fully loved.  Poor, but so very rich. 

Today, will you practice with me taking a few of the walls down?  Let someone you trust inside - to the deep places.  You will be hurt.  But, there is so much freedom in tearing down the walls... in becoming who you were meant to be regardless of what anyone else thinks about it.  There is so much freedom in realizing that you will hurt, but you will heal!  Everyone will hurt whether they want to or not.  So, instead of fighting it, and pretending (even to yourself) that you are invincible, take your guard down and face the hurt.  Once you have turned and looked it full in the face, you can begin to heal.  You can take a step towards becoming who you were meant to be.  God made you amazing.  God has a plan for your life.  It is a good plan.  Filled with love, loss, pain, joy, tears and laughter.  He doesn't promise an easy road.  But, He promises never to leave us all alone.  He says He will never ask me to walk through something that He won't be right beside me through.  Don't run from your pain anymore.  Today, make a decision to really look it in the face.  Really find the root of the hurt, the bitterness, the pain... and pull that thing out!  Then, turn to the Healer.  The God of the Universe that wants to bind up your wounds.  He wants to hold you while you cry.   He wants to carry the pain with you and for you.  Trust me on this one.  He longs to be everything you need if you just call on Him.  He is near.  He is pursuing you.  He wants to heal you - make you whole.  But, you have to face that brokenness.  You have to search out the pain - until you find the source, and then it must be dealt with.  I would beg you not to try to search it out on your own.  Invite God to search it out with you.  He knows you, inside and out.  He sees you, and He hears your cries.

May grace and peace go before you today. Don't miss out on one more day of the YOU that God created you to be.  Today, I exhort you to become.  Become everything that you were meant to become.  You are not your mom.  You are not your dad.  You are not your older siblings, or your younger ones.  You are uniquely YOU!  That means, one choice at a time,  you choose to be you - broken and beautiful.  Sinful and selfish.  But, longing for the righteousness and the holiness that God created you to walk in.  Because, the answer when our souls cry out that there has to be more -  is that there is more than this.   For every believer in Jesus Christ, there is much more than this.  Our hearts know that this broken world can't be all there is.  We were created for so much more.   If you haven't trusted your heart to Christ, because you:
* are skeptical
* have met too many mean and angry Christians
* can't make it make sense
* think to trust Christ means to start being judgemental
* are scared
* are scarred from your past
* can't believe in a God that allows so much pain in the world while being all powerful

Let me say this one thing.  I'm sorry.  I am sorry for the pain that has been brought to you through Christians, through the church, through the depravity of the world.  Becoming Christians doesn't make us perfect.  And, I am sorry for the people who have in their Spiritual pride made you believe that we have something that makes us better.  We don't.  Becoming a believer is about finally realizing that we are the most broken ones.  We are the ones that knew (at one time or another) that we needed saving.

People who are well don't need a doctor.  People who have it all together don't need Christ.

But, if we are honest, there isn't anyone really standing in the "have it all together" place.  No matter what it looks like on the outside.  Inside, they are falling apart.  Christians aren't better.  We just have hope that God hasn't and won't ever give up on us.  Not because we have done something great.  But, because He did something great.  I'm sorry for the people that have made that seem like we are more - I'm sorry for being one of those people too.  Sometimes, because we are human, we act stupid.  I'm just sorry for the picture it paints, and I am sorry for the way(s) it has wounded you.  Please forgive me and my fellow believers for being judgmental.  For being prideful.  For being selfish.  For still being human.  Don't disregard my God, my Jesus, on account of my being human.  Search Him out for yourself.  In the quiet of this moment.  Ask Him to be exactly what you need.  While we will hurt you and let you down - He will always be faithful.  Gandhi said it right, "I like your Christ.  I do not like your Christians.  They are so unlike Christ."  Forgive us for not being like Christ.

If you are a Christian that thinks you are better, that thinks you do have it all together.  I exhort you to look deep into the heart of Jesus.  Ask yourself why He did what He did.  Ask yourself how you ended up in the place of the Pharisee.  And, then lay it down.  Remember the "you" that knew you needed a Savior.    Then, go out and offer the Truth to anyone who knows they are broken and need saving too.  

Become.