The Heart Of Man: Overcoming Shame And Finding IdentitySample

 THE LAGOON

“Here in the lagoon, your fantasy is shown to be what it was all along—death wrapped in a prettier package. The lagoon is that cruel moment when not only your failure and wounds have been revealed, but when you discover you sacrificed so much to gain hideousness that will not readily go away.”

In The Heart of Man, the lagoon is where we act out in sin, believing it will finally give us what we desire. It is also where we discover the hideous truth of our decisions. Your lagoon experience will always be messy. It will never resolve without pain and scars. And making sincere promises won’t mitigate the consequences of bad choices. 

Repentance becomes the most beautiful word you can find, here in your own lagoon. But this repentance cannot be one that requires more self-effort or one that beats you up. 

Repentance isn’t doing something about our sin; it is admitting that we can’t do anything about our sin.

True repentance is fully dependent upon God. It means trusting in His complete power to erase your shame and self-disgust. It is tapping into the greatest power in the universe and believing that this power can cleanse you of the heinous result of your choices, redeem you and give you power to no longer stay here. It is powerful enough to break the spell of this madness. 

Reflection: What might occur if you believed God wanted to help you carry this burden, and that it could be this all-encompassing and immediate?