Hide and Seek
“You can’t keep your true
self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a
religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face
will be known.” (Message)
In Robert Fulgham’s book, Everything I Ever Needed To Know I Learned
In Kindergarten, he shares a classic story of the game of Hide and Seek
that would happen in his neighborhood, which can be paraphrased this way.
He writes, “We’ve
all played it. How long since I’ve played Hide and Seek? Thirty years. Maybe more. I
remember how I could become part of the game in a moment if invited. But adults
don’t play Hide and Seek,
not for fun anyway. That’s too bad. Did you ever have a kid
in your neighborhood who always hid so good that nobody could find him? We
did. After a while we’d give up on him and go off leaving him to rot wherever he was. Sooner or later
he’d show up all mad because we didn’t keep looking for him. He’d say, “It’s Hide and Seek, not Hide and Give up!” We’d all yell about who
made the rules and who cared for who anyway and how we wouldn’t play with him any more if he didn’t get it
straight and who needed him anyhow and
things like that. Hide and Seek and Yell. No matter what, though,
this guy would hide too good again. He’s probably still
hidden somewhere for all I know.
As I write this the neighborhood game
goes on. There’s a kid under a pile of leaves in my yard, just below my window.
He’s been there a long time now and everybody else is
found and they’re about to give up on him. I considered telling them where he’s hiding.
Then I thought about setting the leaves on fire to drive him out. Finally I just yelled out my window “Get found
kid!” I scared him so bad he wet his pants and started crying and ran home to tell
his mother. It’s hard to know how to be
helpful sometimes. Getting found would have kept him in the game.
Hide and
Seek…grown-up style. Wanting to hide
and needing to be sought, confused about being found. I don’t want
anybody to know. What would people think? I don’t want to bother anyone.
Fulgham concludes, “Better than Hide and Seek, I
like the game called Sardines. In Sardines, the person who is ‘It’ goes and hides. And then everybody goes
looking for him. And
then when you find him, you hide with him.
Pretty soon everybody’s hiding together, all stashed in a small space
like puppies in a pile. And pretty soon somebody giggles and somebody laughs and everybody gets
found. I think that’s a great picture of what the church is like. We come in
here every Sunday and we pile like puppies. A few giggles
mixed with some truth, and a challenge to be found. The
kids down the street are hollering the cry that says, “Come on in wherever you
are. It’s a new game.” So say I, to all those who’ve hid too good: Get found.
God wants to have a relationship with you
It’s a new game: Get found.”
The problem of staying hidden is more
than we often know. Captivity, callousness, corruption,
conflict, condemnation, and consequences are but a few. However, the benefits of getting found leads
to forgiveness, healing, joy, grace, power, and freedom.
In the Bible, we find several; games
of Hide and Seek being played:
1)
Round 1: After Adam and Eve made decisions apart from
God, we are
told they hid
from God bringing a disheartening disconnection and His
pursuit of
them.
2)
Round 2: In the book of Joshua, Israel
was marching toward the Promised Land when they were told not to keep the loot
of the spoils. Everyone obeyed…that is,
except Achan. His personal stash of
treasures stifled their next steps, and soon it was apparent to all that God
was displeased.
3)
Round 3: In the New Testament, Jesus addresses time
and again the Pharisees ability to hid rendering the understanding of the word
“hupocritos” or hypocrisy.
It was to them Jesus says, “You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll
be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the
mask will slip and your true face will be known.” (Message)
Most people think that the
worst thing that could ever happen is that their secrets be exposed. However, the worst thing that can ever happen
to you is not that your secrets will be exposed, but that you will live your
entire life and take your secrets to your grave having: missed the opportunity
to experience God’s forgiveness, justice, and grace...and to share that for the
benefit of others.
When I think of those occasions in
life where I’ve tried to hide something in my life, there are times I actually
thought I got away with it. At least most people didn’t know, but Someone
always did. There were other times where
I was more exposed than an old-fashioned, outdoor photo, and it always caught
up with me.
We all will choose whether we will let
Christ find us. When we get found, the Bible says, “I’ve taken your sins and put them all
behind My back.” Out of sight. “I’ve separated them as far as the east
from the west.” Out of reach.
“I’ve put them where I remember
them no more.” Out of memory. Now, that’s a different type of hiding we can
handle.
Terry
Risser
Reflections
1) What would be the worst thing people could find out about your
present or past?
2) Do you feel you can trust God with it? Why or why not?
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright
2014- Terry Risser
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