Live Free with Josh Howerton - Choose To Be Refreshingly Real | Ep. 146 | Monday, August 28, 2023

Episode Date: August 28, 2023

God wants our authenticity, not our image management. Pastor Mike unpacks this idea and how being transparent in our brokenness is another key to a joyful life. Let's remind ourselves of the happiness found in authenticity as we seek to be pure in heart. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up? Thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive, wherever you are and whatever you're currently doing. Man, grateful you are making time for this. I'm Mike Bro, and together we've been climbing a ladder in recent days. And the ladder I'm talking about is found in a section of the New Testament known as the Beatitudes.

They are part of an amazing teaching that Jesus gave on a hillside two thousand years ago. There's a crowd of people with needs and desires like us who were gathered there, and he begins talking about the pursuit of how. happiness. And he lays out, at least the way I see it, these progressive steps that lead to a deeply fulfilling life, almost like rungs of a ladder. And we've climbed so far a step of honesty about our spiritual poverty. Then we landed on a rung that saw us broken over the realization of our bankruptcy, our need for forgiveness. Then on rung three, we humbly handed the control of our life over to God, and we started a daily practice of hungering for him and staying honest and stay and stay in broken and stay independent and stay in humble. And we talked about how those first four

rungs are all inside out kind of things that lead us to live to kind of transform life that what Jesus was talking about when he said blessed or supremely happy. He says blessed are the merciful. And we talked about how mercy is a cyclical kind of thing, one of those what I would call a boomerang principle, you receive it, then you give it, and before you know it, man, it comes back around. Well, today we stand on rung, number six, and Jesus says this, blessed, happy are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God. Now, when Jesus talks about pure and heart, I think he's talking about authenticity. He's talking about sincerity rather than perfection. He's saying, happy are those who just

don't have anything to hide? Happy are you when you quit playing the image management game, and you just decide to be real? The Latin word from which we get our words sincere, is Sincera, which literally means without wax. In ancient Roman culture, sculptors would make vases, pottery, statues, etc., and fire them in the kiln. And sometimes there would be cracks in the pottery. So unscrupulous ones would smear pearly white wax into the cracks to hide the imperfections, and then would pass them off as the genuine article.

Well, you'd purchase your statue of Caesar, and you'd set it out in the yard, and the sun comes out, and his nose falls off, right? So honest merchants began to label their wares sincere without wax. And I think that Jesus is saying here, blessed are those who come to God cracks and all. They don't pretend.

They don't try to fake him out. They don't try to cover up the imperfections. They don't hide behind some kind of mask. They decide to drop the whole image management game. And just be real. And did you see the payoff? He said, blessed or the pure and heart, for they will see God. Man, it's hard to see God when you're always wearing a mask.

There is freedom and authenticity. I mean, it's very hard to live one life, let alone too. But the book of Proverbs says that a man or a woman who takes crooked paths will be found out. It's because it's too hard to cover your tracks on a crooked path. And, man, it is exhausting to pretend and hide and live in fear of being found. I mean, being phony is a life zapper. So, why not come to God? Just cracks and all.

Without wax, sin Sarah. Take the mask off today and know that he knows you and that he already loves you in spite of what he knows about you. Why not let His grace set you free to be refreshingly real? And I hope that's your experience today. See you back next time. Thanks for tuning in today. more biblical teaching and worship,

join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.com. Church slash daily drive.