God Shy

Some people are camera shy.
Some people are shy when they have to get up and talk in front of others.
Some people are shy when they sing in front of an audience.
Some people are God shy.

Someone is going through something difficult.
That person makes their trial known.
Others respond to their situation.
Sending positive thoughts, they say.

I never understand what that means.
Where do the positive thoughts go?
Who is the one who reads or hears the positive thoughts that are sent?
When those positive thoughts are read or heard, what happens?

Perhaps, positive thoughts are really all they are sending to the other person.
However, when it is an illness or a difficult situation, positive thoughts are not enough.
Positive thoughts are a feel good remedy that does not feel good for very long.
Is that really what the person means to send?

Or do they really mean something else?
Could it be that, I will pray for you, is what they are trying to say?
They just cannot bring themselves to say it.
What will people think?

They do not want to assume the other person prays.
They do not want to force their prayers on them.
They say, positive thoughts, but they really mean they will pray for them.
Why are they unable to say it?

Why are we God shy?
Why do we hesitate to tell others about Him?
Why do we adjust our words so that we do not sound too spiritual?
Why do we play it safe?

When people are going through a hard time and come out the other side, they use a word.
They will often say they are lucky.
They attribute everything to simple luck.
If they had not come out the other side, would they say they were unlucky?

Does luck have anything to do with anything?
Luck is incredibly arbitrary.
Luck puts some people in the good column.
Luck puts other people in the, try again next time, column.

We are God shy.
Perhaps the person saying, positive thoughts or luck, does not know any different.
We, who are in Christ, can clarify.
We, who are in Christ, can point them to prayers and the sovereignty of God.

We, who are in Christ, must not deny Him.
God allows suffering, though we do not understand why.
God allows healing and we rejoice.
The outcome does not depend on luck but rather the sovereignty of God.

If someone asks for positive thoughts, we can tell them we will pray for them.
When people are suffering, they are usually very open to prayer.
Since eternity is set in our hearts, we intuitively know that we need God.
We may try to deny it but our denial will not erase the Truth.

We cannot afford to be God shy.
The world is broken and people are screaming for answers.
How can we expect to point others to God if we act just like the world?
Hurting people need a place where they can safely run.

We must show them that this Place is really a Person.
We must not be shy as we tell them about Him.
We must not hide behind safe words.
We must be bold.

God’s people are different.
God’s people have a Joy about them.
God’s people have a Hope to which they cling.
God’s people have a Love that resembles Jesus’ love.

How will they know Him, if we are God shy?
How will they know Truth if we do not proclaim it?
How will they see Love if they do not see it first in us?
How will they know about Prayer, if we do not pray with them and for them?

Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
(Matthew 10:32,33)

We must not be God shy.
It matters.
Jesus will disown us before His Father, if we choose to be God shy about Him now.
We must be bold; we must not be afraid.

Positive thoughts?
Prayer.
Luck?
God’s sovereign hand in a situation.

Our times call for boldness.
We must be respectful of where the person is in their faith journey.
We must not sit back and say nothing.
Our relationship with the Lord Jesus is too precious to deny.

They need to see Him in us.