Spiritual Paralysis...

Ever felt completely paralyzed spiritually?

Like you suddenly realize how screwed up you are. How much you’ve screwed up.

You come face to face with your lust, anger, laziness, pride, insecurity. Not to fight. No, you’re on the floor bleeding and immobilized, beaten up by your ‘sin’. You struggle to carry the weight of your shame. Your guilt slowly crushes you...

Maybe you try to justify it or blame it on others but deep down you know its as bad if not worse than you fear. And there’s no one else to blame but you. You’ve messed up. Again.

But that's not the worst part. That's not the paralyzing part.

No.

That worst part is the despair that sets it. The knowing in the back of your head that no matter how much you rally or dust yourself up, no matter how much you try harder or vow to ‘never again’... you’ll be back sooner or later. You’ll fall again. Sin again. Lie again. Steal again. Click again.

Enter spiritual paralysis.
I wish I could water it down, but I can’t because its true. That's what depravity means.
We are worse than we think and there’s nothing we can do about it.

But you know what else ‘depravity’ tells us?

We NEED a savior.

We need Jesus to come into our paralysis and give us life.
Look, I’m not going to patronize you. Sanctification takes time. You’ll still fall and there’s no prayer that will make you become like Jesus in a day.

All I’m saying is there is hope. Hope in sin. Hope for guilt. Hope for shame. Hope in the deepest darkest pits.
There is hope because we have a savior.

Psalm 40:1-3
“I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord”

I love that Jesus didn’t just call David out of the pit, nor did he throw him a rope. No, he LIFTED him OUT and set him on a rock.

I love that because when you’re beaten up and bloodied up, you don’t need a pep talk or more hard work. You don‘t need to try harder. You can’t save yourself. You need a savior. You need to be ‘raised from the dead’. You need grace driven effort.

So I know this might sound like the worst suggestion ever but if you are reading this and you are stuck in a pit, please stop ‘trying’. Embrace your depravity and cry out for your savior.
He is here and He is near. His name is Jesus.