“Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9 NLT)
The circumstance may be different. The context might not be the same as in the opening verse, but God is asking you this morning, “Where are you?” Read on!
Sunday morning, prior to going to church, as I drank a half-cup of coffee, I turned on the TV and watched an old documentary about the cold war era, not the seemingly new one of this day, but when I was a child. As I viewed the program, I was reminded how school children of all ages were taught to duck and cover when the alarm signaled, a warning of an atomic bomb attack. We would hide under desks and tables, and if in the hallway we would hurry to find a place against the wall, sit on the cold ceramic floor, and hide our heads with our hands. We dropped whatever we were doing to duck and cover. Fear dominated our beings. Our focus was on survival and nothing else.
Times have changed, but as alluded to above, new cold wars are arising. But that is not what I want to focus on this morning. I don’t want to revisit or revive the duck and cover mentality in terms of today’s reality. I don’t want to talk about hiding at all. No, I want to talk about coming out of our hiding. What do I mean? I mean let us stop hiding the fact that we have been born again. Let’s stop hiding the fact that we belong to the Lord! For I am convinced that this is a time where are testimony should be shared, our light should be shining bright and not covered by contradictory behavior! Our faith should be revealed, and we should be open about the fact that we have a Savior, and He is, as they say, “sweet I know.”
Wherever you go this week, come out of hiding. Whatever you go through this week, come out of hiding. Whenever opposition makes your life seem like a spiritual cold war, come out of hiding. Share by your words, your willingness to be one of those who are different because you are one of His disciples. Display be your behavior that it is no longer you, but the Christ who lives in you! Even in the midst of the pandemic, we are to still be making other disciples. History shows us that this works when we come out of hiding. No plague, no prejudice that turned into properly classified unkind discrimination, no poverty, no pandemic from the past, and no pervasive wars ever stopped the growth of the kingdom of God in years throughout history. Why not? Soul winning and lifesaving took place because of regardless of what was going on, Christians did not revert or regress to some type of duck and cover response to what was going on. They did not go out into hiding.
For every Christian that reads this; for everyone who has been washed in the blood of the Lamb, for everyone who recognizes our commission to make disciples, I implore you to come out of hiding! Start at your home and then continue wherever the highways of life lead you. Have a great start to your week! Be blessed!
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King