Be Uncensored

By Hannah Johnson

I saw this photo and immediately it sparked a conviction deep in my soul. How often do we sugar coat the truth so as not to hurt someone’s feelings? To steer from the political scene or just honestly don’t get it? Do you not speak of Him in your workplace? Do you hide him away while you are with your friends? Does He embarrass you a little or possibly just take “the fun out of everything?” Do you think you know Him so well you don’t have to listen or read His word? His word is clear and countless times He tells us of the truth only He can bring. He lays down the law and as soldiers, true devoted servants of Christ, we must follow His lead.

Psalm 119:160 “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.”

When I heard Him repeatedly tell me to “read it, write it and speak it,” I began to worry. I began to worry was what He was telling me to do going change the dynamic of the relationships I had? Was it going to make me stand out in a weird way or would it bring on some sort of self-righteous feeling to be in the center? Was I going to say something that offended or better yet hurt someone’s feelings? I’ve been silent on many things long enough. If His Word is truth, which we know it to be, then why should anything else matter? The ones that love me,but above All else, Love God first wouldn’t ditch me. They wouldn’t unfriend me and they wouldn’t take offense to the truth. I don’t always speak truth as I should and He convicts me often when I have failed Him. Those times in which I’ve felt my heart about to beat out of chest because He’s telling me to give it up or to pray or to speak it out loud or just to simply be still and write, I’ve allowed the fear of the public opinion stop me. It’s those times He’s convicted me and for that I ask for and desperately need His redemption. He grants it to me. Every.Single.Time.

“If you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it? And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders. When you arrived, you would call together your friends and neighbors to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found. In the same way, heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

Luke 15:3-7

Isn’t it worth the loss of a “friend” for Him to use you? Isn’t it worth asking Him for forgiveness? Isn’t it worth everything by allowing Him to continue to use you as a Shepard. A Shepard that begs for Him to consume you and cover you and lead you as you disciple to others in His name. Even just to bring the saving knowledge of Christ to one. It makes the effort of leaving the crowd worth it. It makes the shame of begging Him for forgiveness worth every uncomfortable ounce of humility. Won’t you be bold and use the opportunity to be public, without shame or fear, with what He’s saying as He speaks to you? I desire for Him to consume me and use me, and I’ve squashed many an opportunity in the past. I wish with every ounce of my being that He will continue to speak into my life. To give me the opportunity to be uncensored and to be bold. I will always fail at points in my life, and that’s ok because that’s what makes Him my redeemer. The truth. The truth that I can’t live without Him all the sweeter. If it takes this ole world chopping off my hand because I’ve written His truth(His law), as He has directed me to, then I’m ready for the pain and I’ll be ready for the next opportunity to write another truth and another after that. For if my hands are gone, He has blessed me with a mouth to speak of the truth His unfailing love and Word brings to me. To you. To the world.

#bebold #beuncensored #belight