“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!” Maybe that was true in the old days but today “what happens in Vegas gets posted on facebook!” Executives from a major firm were enjoying music, dancing and plenty of liquor. Tim and I sat and watched as things heated up. Cell phone cameras came out of the woodwork to snap photos of the rowdy scene.  With a quick email the photos could have been sent to facebook for the world to see (wife too)!

Our soul and heart has a camera that snaps an image of particular situations – sounds, smells, tastes, thoughts, etc. The profound memory with which God created us is real. Try as we might to “leave it in Vegas” or locked in our cupboards, God calls us to allow his light to shine, even in the darkest places. Carrying the weight of the memories and circumstances surrounding events and the way in which we’ve interpreted those events is a load we don’t need to bear.

Peter says, You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. ¹¹Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:9-11

Particular deeds we have done may have been horrible. The war that is waged on our soul as a result of those deeds is exponentially more horrible. Perhaps we don’t engage in horrible behavior; Satan still uses memories, circumstances and our interpretation of those events to wage war on our soul. As a result of that memory or snapshot, our behavior and being is affected, even without being aware of IT! Side note: The “passion of the flesh” of which Peter speaks isn’t the healthy sexual passion spouses share, he is talking about deeds of darkness that don’t align with the freedom we have in Christ. God, in Christ, calls us to live freely where we’ve been called to live.

Our soul and heart long to be free in Christ. We are called to recall those “snapshots” in our memories and identify what we have shoved deep into the cupboard of our heart and soul. Satan convinces us that other people would not love us if they know us; Satan convinces us that we would not love ourselves if we know ourselves. This lie must be confronted in Christ. Isolating ourselves is part of Satan’s master plan. We don’t need snapshots of our past on facebook, but God calls us to recall the snapshots, receive his mercy into our darkness, and then visualize placing our past in the flesh of Christ and in the tomb.

Christ Jesus swallows up our past in his perfect life. He restores, recreates, and places a new heart and soul within us. He lovingly calls us to unpack our trunk of junk, the junk we carry in our heart and soul, in the memories and place them in his body and in the empty tomb. IN Christ, what we place in the tomb stays in the tomb. IN Christ we are clothed with his holy life, a brand new life. IN Christ our soul and heart is free to express the Life we have in him. IN Christ we are free to stay away from the passions of the flesh that wage war against our soul and engage in the freeing life he provides for us.

May God grant us courage to really look at the snapshots we carry and how they affect our being and doing. May God grant us boldness to proclaim his word and work in our lives to bring freedom and healing to those around us. May his peace guard our heart and soul. Blessings IN Christ, Cindy

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