Untangled

When I was little girl, I used to get a lot of tangles in my hair. And I hated for my mom to comb it, particularly when it was wet. It just hurt. No matter how carefully she would work, sooner or later she’d yank the wrong way and I would holler.  But then on TV I saw an ad for a detangling product you could spray on your hair. I begged mom to buy it, and she did. Voila!  No more pain. It was a miracle.

Whenever we come to Christ, our minds are a tangled mess of lies and misconceptions, compounded by habits of thought and action based on those lies. Slowly and steadily, God applies His balm of grace and truth to our crazy knotted mess, straightening out strand after strand. Freeing us to understand who He is, who we are and what is really going on in the world.

For example, for years I was afraid of God. I was under the misconception that God was an angry taskmaster. So I did my best to stay off His radar, because I just didn’t want to piss him off. But over time, His Holy Spirit detangled that lie, and opened my heart to the beautiful truth of who God really is. He is a delightful encouraging Father who enjoys spending time with me, and loves me to distraction, and only wants the very best for me. God is not someone to be feared, but someone I can trust more than anyone.

Day by day, as our relationship to our Heavenly Father deepens, He helps us detangle our unique misconceptions about Him, about ourselves, and about the way things work in the world. And as He smooths it all out, He replaces it with truth. And freedom. And joy.

What kind of knots do you struggle with in your mind? Are you willing to sit in the balm of God’s presence, open your heart to His word, and allow the Holy Spirit to untangle those mixed up thought processes?

And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.  Luke 5:31

“What do you want Me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “Rabboni,” said the blind man, “I want to see again.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.” Mark 10:51-52

“The man they call Jesus made some mud and anointed my eyes, and He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight.” John 9:11