THE BORN IDENTITY
HOW DO I GET HOME?

Dan Diaddigo The Born Identity with Part VI

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Fear occupies that space between our pretension and God’s provision; that place where we wake up to the sobering fact that we are not enough. It was into this fear God spoke when He called to the man.

That can be a terrifying thing, to be called out, to be summoned forth from the shadows of your camouflage and into the Presence of a Holy God.

It’s a terrifying thing, yes. But, its also a necessary thing, for a man disconnected from God is a tragic end to a sad, sad story. 

“And mankind was lost forever. The End.”

Thank God the Lord called Adam out.

With those words, “Where are you?” God relationally engaged the traitor, that image-bearer turned rebel who hid among the shade of the trees and counted darkness his friend. 

It didn’t have to be this way… 

God didn’t have to do this. 

He could have written off the race of men. He could have left us alone in our lostness, forever unplugged from the Author of Life. 

Instead, God spoke into the fear and walked among us. 

Even while Adam was being cast from the Garden, Perfect Love was casting out fear. 

And the race of men, covered by the love of a merciful God, began their journey home.

___________________________

copyright 2007 Rilian

THE BORN IDENTITY: THE STORY OF BORN
HOW DID I GET HERE?

Dan Diaddigo continues with Part V of The Born Identity.

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UNC meets weekly at the Atlanta Bread Company in Cumming GA. Each Friday, the morning’s opening talk is posted to the blog. Don’t forget, you can easily subscribe to our RSS feed.

Also, you can subscribe to our Podcast in iTunes. Start iTunes, enter the iTunes Store, and search for “UNC Friday Morning”.

He knew… as the serpent promised the woman she would know. Adam’s eyes were opened and he knew… evil.

That enticing alternate experience to God.

From the carnage of his crash, Adam prayed. Only, his was a prayer to himself. Adam, you see, had become his own god, and those prayers had to go somewhere.

Adam tried to answer his own prayer. He sought relief from his nakedness before God among the cover of the trees and the works of his hands. Yet inside, Adam knew (for his eyes were opened) that his efforts to walk with God as peer were the stuff of folly.

Little gods in big worlds make for a whole lot of unanswered prayer. They rip a chasm between the creature’s needs and the Provider’s Presence. And into that blackness, that gulf between a thirst for life and a disconnection from the Living God, invades an experience with which we are all too familiar.

It’s an experience called fear.

“I was afraid…” Adam said.

The fear that consumed Adam in his aloneness is common to the plight of men. It’s a fear God has left us solely to the company of ourselves.

You may be afraid because you think God has left you alone. You have discovered you are insufficient to answer the crisis before you, that you cannot make a living, heal your marriage, locate your purpose, preserve your health or control your outcomes.

If you fear because you believe God is unable or unwilling to meet you in your crisis, it is because you are praying to yourself.

___________________________

copyright 2007 Rilian

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A naked man stands at your very center, in the middle of that person called you. He’s the kind of guy you don’t let out in public. He is, after all… naked.

Sane people don’t let naked people run free in their worlds.

Adam didn’t.

[He] sewed fig leaves and made coverings… and hid.

Adam didn’t like the exposure; he didn’t want anyone to experience him unedited and vulnerable to the outside. Yet, outside is where Adam lived. Just like us. That’s why we walk in Adam’s pattern.

That’s why we’ll tell you about the people we know and the groups we’re in and the things we do and the stuff we have. We’ll show you anything you want to see… anything that is, except for our Selves.

I don’t know how much time elapsed between the instant Adam’s eyes were opened to his nakedness and moment he responded to God’s call. I do know what he was doing in the space between.

He was hiding and he was working.

This is the same thing we do to manage the gap between the men we are and the presentations we make.

We either hide to blend in or we work to stand out.

Either tactic seeks anonymity; it desires to deflect attention away from our centers and into our circumstances or achievements.

When Adam disconnected from God, he inherited a tragic tension. It’s a tension we manage every day. We desire to be known and loved, but inside the disconnection, we believe anyone who truly knows us, really couldn’t love us.

So we hide.

And we work.

And we hide in our work.

And we work to hide.

In fact, we’ll do just about anything to cover ourselves, to make ourselves more presentable to the outside.

This is the world in which we live. It’s a pretentious and distorted world, crafted in the image of men.

___________________________

copyright 2007 Rilian

THE BORN IDENTITY: UNDER COVER
WHO AM I?

Dan Diaddigo continues with Part III of The Born Identity.

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UNC meets weekly at the Atlanta Bread Company in Cumming GA. Each Friday, the morning’s opening talk is posted to the blog. Don’t forget, you can easily subscribe to our RSS feed.

Also, you can subscribe to our Podcast in iTunes. Start iTunes, enter the iTunes Store, and search for “UNC Friday Morning”.

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