People who sat at home, not wanting anyone to know that they had been clumsy and twisted their ankle again.

People who were sure their cough would pass on its own, so they didn’t need any help.

People who didn’t want their own family members to know they had been suffering with something that they desperately wanted healed.

“All the city was gathered together at the door.” (Mark 1:33)

Many flocked toward Jesus, begging to be healed.

But that meant that those people admitted they needed healing in the first place.

We all have those “weaknesses” that we are happy to publicly talk about.

Oh yes, I sometimes zone out during my prayers, too!

But what about the stuff that’s harder to admit?

The stuff that we don’t share about nonchalantly in a Sunday School class.

When we try to hide it from other people, do we mistakenly think that we can hide it from God, too?

Bringing our sins and our sicknesses and our weaknesses to the Lord requires a bit of vulnerability and humility.

It requires that we admit that there’s something that actually needs fixing.

It requires that we acknowledge that even if we COULD solve something on our own, everything is always better with Jesus.

Jesus heals.

He heals it all.

He takes our burdens and our yoke upon Him.

So will we go to Him?

Will we rise up and follow where He leads?

Will we admit that we have something that needs healing?

Will we allow the Master Healer to do what He longs to do?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Go to the Master Healer first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Shame is when we believe we are a bad person because we have done something wrong.

It keeps us hiding and secretive, because we wouldn’t want anyone else to find out about the “bad person” that we really are.

Sometimes other people play a lot into shame.

A kid hears their mom making judgmental comments about the kid next door, and they assume that if their mom knew they were caught up in the same thing, mom would judge and talk badly about them too.

A youth leader makes an analogy in a church lesson that makes the teen listening feel like they have lost their worth because of a mistake they have made.

These are so sad, and I’m constantly trying to get rid of any “shaming” that I may inadvertently do in my parenting or in my teaching.

But other times, I think we are really good at inventing the shame all in our head.

“They heard the voice of the Lord God… and Adam and his wife went to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.” (Moses 4:14)

Did God shame Adam and Eve when they had their discussion about what had happened?

Not at all.

In fact, I think God gives us a perfect parenting example of asking curious questions, showing love, teaching about a natural consequence, showing even more love, and then even giving them a beautifully symbolic gift of a coat of skins to protect them as they left the garden.

But Adam and Eve, as natural, fallen, humans at this point, still felt that shame and wanted to hide from God.

Feeling like we need to hide because we have sinned is a natural thing to do.

But the more that we learn about the nature of God and Christ, ideally, the less shame we feel.

Because we are instead filled with Their love.

God never turns away anyone who wants to run toward Him and ask for help, no matter what sins they’ve committed.

So where do we turn when we have sinned?

Do we hide it and hope no one ever knows? Or do we place it at the Lord’s feet in full humility, ready to be cleansed and changed?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Shame and hiding first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.