Living Perfectly Positioned: Emotional Time Bombs

Day 24

Principle: Only God can defuse that which can destroy me.

The Queen Mary was the largest ship to cross the ocean in her day. When she was retired, the regal vessel was anchored as a floating hotel and museum in Long Beach, California. During the conversion process, her three massive smokestacks were taken off to be scraped down and repainted. On the dock, they each crumbled. Nothing was left of the three-quarter-inch steel plating from which the stacks had been formed. All that remained was more than 30 coats of paint, applied over many years. The steel had rusted away.

It is the same in life. Fixing surface problems will only work for so long; you have to get to the source of the problem.

Years ago in Germany, three construction workers were killed when they accidentally detonated a World War II bomb that had been lying dormant for over 50 years. We all have emotional time bombs that can sabotage us. Guilt, shame, and bitterness are lethal time bombs that, though they might seem dormant over time, eventually can (and will) explode.

The One who loves you the most desires to reveal the hidden parts of your heart that, unless healed, will explode, leaving a wake of destruction and pain. He longs to not just identify the problem, but to come with healing hands to touch your pain. Only God can defuse that which can destroy. That’s why Jesus went to the Cross—to destroy the works of the enemy. (1John 3:8)

Today, would you allow the Holy Spirit to disarm and heal the explosive dimensions of your life? He will do it, if you ask, without any loss of your precious life.

1. Ask God to show you any hidden parts of your heart (guilt, shame, bitterness, etc.) that are emotional time bombs.

   How have these hidden parts of your heart sabotaged you?