The Elephant in the Room
There is an elephant in the room. Too large for the space it inhabits, it’s destroying its home from the inside out. Yet we usually don’t talk about it. We act like it doesn’t exist, though the damage persists and we find ourselves in hopelessness, wondering if we must deal with this forever, and alone.
In the church our elephants are our secrets or secret sins, the ones we usually do not openly discuss. Things like sexual sins, abortion, addiction, suicidal thoughts, and many other sins that are hard to admit and share. Shame is active in our secrecy. Yet Christ died to release us of its shackles!
When will God’s people live in the reality of Christ and all He accomplished by the Cross and Resurrection? We can live without shame, in full forgiveness all because of Jesus. We can walk with Jesus our Savior and boast on what He has done for us. Jesus took our shame, gives forgiveness and redemption! It is Good News that we don’t deserve but was paid by his death, in full, by Christ.
Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount set high standards. He taught us how to be blessed, to be salt and light, to be light-bearers, truth-givers, useful, to live generous lives for his Kingdom. Yet, the church sometimes struggles to live this. When it does take a stand and talks about the elephant, it doesn’t always know how to help the people that have been affected by the elephants and to bring them to restoration.
Often in the church, we are refusing to be honest with what is really going on and what our real story is—and that’s how an elephant in the room becomes a controlling skeleton in the closet.
I can no longer live the charade. Pretending does not work, and it hinders the gospel.
We are only as sick as our secrets is a well known adage. And as most of us have experienced our secrets usually show themselves somehow. If or when we sin against the Lord, we can be sure our sin will catch up with us. (Reflection of Numbers 32:23)
Jesus knows all of our secrets and sins. He knows us and loves us completely. He does not want us in secrecy, shame,*or condemnation and has done everything to offer forgiveness, bring blessing and redemption through his death and resurrection!
I want to be genuine, to live real, so I will no longer hide or pretend. I have faced the truth of my sins and applied Christ and his finished work on my behalf, by faith and forgiveness, “salvation” has been appropriated to me. I have begun to live authentically. The skeleton of shame and disgrace is gone. The the righteousness of Christ is on.
These were my elephant secrets: Sexual abuses, occult abuse, a homosexual relationship, sexual sin, abortion, church hurts, and physical and mental health difficulties. These are all part of my story—now told and no longer the elephants in the room of my life.
Many have experienced similar things. For instance, WHO (World Health Organization) reports that there are 73 million abortions a year worldwide not counting the abortion pill!
One study reported 7 out of 10 women in the church admit to having had an abortion. Many have sexual sins….
How I pray my story can help others know the real Christ and His story and be helped and blessed forever!
This book is my story of how the gospel was first received and how Christ became life to me. It is the story of how I began to tell others the treasure of Christ and the greatness of what I have received in Him!
Redemption in the Telling
Before I told my story, I carried so much shame, initially it seemed impossible to write my story. I found it difficult to apply the gospel to my life effectively. Shame robbed the gospel of its power in my life. I was locked in a cursed gospel of good works that never worked. I thought that if I tried harder, I would find hope. I never found hope or peace or joy because I was locked in shame by default in this works based false gospel life—and habit. Shame became my identity, and it affected my relationships and every part of my life. I craved relief from myself—from trying to prove my value because I felt worthless, like I didn’t matter and often thought of suicide. Yet, if you had met me back then, you’d think I was self-assured and confident, which I used as a defense.
A deeper experience of God’s love and Christ’s cross and resurrection was my need and maybe yours too?
To live the gospel to the world more effectively, I needed to experience the love of God, the Truth of God, and the secret of forgiveness hope found in Him. This process accelerated when I began telling my story as I had to apply the Gospel to myself over and over and I asked The Lord to make His Gospel and forgiveness real to me. Christ became so real and taught me His New Covenant in a deeper way.
True confidence in Christ’s story changes everything. The truth of the gospel and experiencing the greatness of what Christ has done for me caused a greater desire to share and live the gospel, both to myself and to others.
Through the Gospel Lens
As I began committing the truths of God Word to my heart by writing and processing my past through the gospel lens and the Spirit’s work, the shame diminished more and more and the desire to share my story came through. Head knowledge became heart functioning in gospel living.
As one thinks in his heart so he is (Proverbs 23:7). Paul said, “To live is Christ,” and Peter said, “strengthen the brethren.” These are my goals too. Oh how wonderful if the Lord would work in us, me and you, and by His Spirit, teach us to live like these first apostles in the Book of Acts. We too could turn the world upside down with the gospel!
Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 NET).
Work in Progress
I am a work in progress, and it’s been messy. I am learning to accept myself and my past in the light of God’s grace and truth. Religion of a set of rules to follow based on our own works, doesn’t work. But the experience of the true gospel based on the sacrificial death of Christ for salvation is and does work and is real salvation and living hope.
I have received God’s grace and mercy. Christ died to give me these unmerited favors. Though I have received them I have, in the past, poorly understood them and rarely applied their riches or utilized their gifts. Shame has hindered Christ’s forgiveness and truths too long. I was deceived to think I could overcome shame by my own works. The realization of my dependence on works has been intense. I continue to process my feelings and have begun to abide more fully in Christ. Now I have come to learn Christ and know only Christ’s blood overcomes shame and all sin and brings the victory.
As Travis Cottrell’s song says Jesus Blood Speaks for Me! I want to live from the TRUTH AND FREEDOM OF THE GOSPEL! Jesus paid it all, paid for my sins, my redemption. I want to use what I have learned from the Word and to live what I say I believe and what the Word clearly teaches. I want to share this process with you.
The process of breaking my silence and revealing my secrets as well as breaking out of legalistic religion has not been easy. It has been a slow kill inside of me. But in its death, new life has hope. I fully desire to overcome, (Revelation 12:11) worship in Spirit and in Truth, (John 4: 23-24) and live a life of abundance. (John 10:10; Ephesians 3:20)
We are greatly loved and intimately known. The creator of the universe loves and cares about us, individually and specifically. His love is more than words and sentiment. His unconditional love is backed by action, the giving of his life. He knows us fully—our inner thoughts, feelings, and our outer actions, including every good or bad thing we have ever thought, said or have done. And yet He loves us. His love is infinite and is unaffected by our past. His forgiveness when received is complete and awesome Good News!
His love, forgiveness and acceptance gives us hope. The saying goes that an elephant never forgets. It is ours, through the gospel, never to forget the hope that was won for us on the cross and through the resurrection. The Elephant Gospel’s four elephants (what each represent) exalt the truth of Christ and death of Christ on the cross. Through Christ’s resurrection truly the secret of our hope is realized.
The skeleton in the closet of my soul had not just controlled me but became the poison that was killing me little by little piece by piece. I needed an extraction and a resurrection! This book is part of that process! There is more than one way to come out of the closet!
My secrets now told will show the secret of hope, as I have discovered it. I am learning how to depend only on Christ to deliver me and take my old self to the cross and leave it there for good. No longer may it have a negative hold on me. The stronghold of shame is broken. My identity in Christ is secure.
Hope from hopelessness.
Prayer
Lord, lead us by your Spirit to give clear testimony of the completed redemptive work You have accomplished on our behalf. Give us clear words of testimony about how Christ’s blood purchased salvation. Open the eyes of the unsaved so they may see the truth of how sin separates us from You. Give grace so that each one can repent and put their faith in Christ. Show the difference between man’s work and Christ’s work. Fill us with Your Spirit, grace and joy. Draw us to You and in Your goodness and anointing help us recognize and live the abundant best life You came to give us. Help us be a willing vessel to offer our lives to be Your servants and witnesses for You, Your will be done in our lives, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
