Hide and Seek

People love to hide. They enjoy hide and seek as children, and continue to play as adults, only with more to hide, and more serious consequences than simply losing the game. Only, in Christ and in his Church, the winner is the one who is discovered and found, whose hiding place is opened up and laid bare before the One or ones who are ‘it.’

I am amazed at the number of people who come into the church hiding—why then come into the church? Because they see church as a system of religion, and they see other people as ‘it,’ ones who are judges, ones whose opinions and judgments matter. So they are embarrassed to be ‘found.’ They miss—I don’t know how, it is preached over and over again, they miss the fact that this is not about system of religion, this is about a relationship with a Person, the man Jesus Christ. Jesus is the One who is it, he is the judge and jury. But he has stepped down, he has paid the penalty, and he wants to be our friend. Yes, he calls us and commands us to change, to deal with that which embarrasses us, but only as we walk with him, and only in his power, strength and ability. And he will help, he will come near, only when we admit to him—and others, that we cannot change on our own, that we need his—and others’ help.

Not only does it not matter if we are ‘found out’ by others, but it is in fact important to be found out; for others to see the real you. Perhaps a better (if imperfect) analogy is of an emergency room operating table. To mix metaphors, you are the patient with a gaping wound in your abdomen. The nurses are the church, and God is the Doctor. You have come in for help, God is ready and willing to operate, but he cannot come close to do his work. Because you are irrationally fighting off the nurses—you think that their prepping the area, and giving you anesthesia is actually going to hurt you. So you fight against them and guard your wound.

The church is here to help, as God has created it to be a community of love, support, and one-another-ing, as it points to the ultimate Healer. But it can’t help while you are busy covering up your wounds. Ironically, the opinion of the church doesn’t matter one bit—it is God who is the judge, to mix metaphors once again. But we hide from him too—with our system of religion and good works as a band-aid seeking to cover up a gaping gunshot wound. But hiding from God is about as effective as a kid covering his eyes up to hide from his parents. Not seeing his parents, he reasons that they can’t see him either.