Women’s Devotional: 29 Things I Have Denied

Author: Angela Craig

Denial: The refusal to satisfy a request or desire.

Earlier this week I received a message from a Facebook User asking if I was close to a person who was on my friends list. The Facebook User went on to tell me a story of how she sold this person something on Craigslist and on good faith (because she professed Jesus as Savior and thought she could be trusted) set up a payment plan never to hear from the purchaser again. The comment that struck me the hardest was this:

“It wasn’t just the fact she stole from me but how she went about it. I didn’t think it was right to keep quiet like she probably hoped i would. How many other people has she done this too? How many other people just gave up and let her get away with it? The reason I brought Jesus into this is because all these times she is ignoring me she is posting her love for him. Can you get more hypocritical than that???”

By writing this, I am not claiming to know both sides of the story but my heart breaks just the same. Not just for the person who wrote this note to me, but for the person who has failed (for unknown reasons) to communicate with her over the transition, leaving a negative image of Jesus in the path. And I can’t stop there. I am heartbroken at all the times, I have personally denied responsibility for not acting like Jesus and blocked someone as special as the person who wrote this from knowing Him.

Titus 1:16a says, “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.”

I started a list last night of the things I have been guilty of denying

• My sin
• My past
• My needs
• My mistakes
• My need for love
• My need to be seen
• My need to be heard
• My need to be a part of something bigger than myself
• Community
• Healing
• Trusting others and God
• Accountability
• Repentance
• Imagination
• Creativity
• Spontaneity
• Laughter
• Joy
• Justice
• Truth
• My future
• My health
• God’s gifts
• My need for security
• My need for dignity
• My need to be valued
• My need for forgiveness
• Responsibility
• Jesus

What about you? What have you denied in your life?

Go ahead, get your highlighter out if you have to. Feel free to add to the list and share this with others.

What does our denial lead too?

• Blaming
• Bitterness
• Unforgiveness
• Broken relationships
• Victim mentality
• Disunity
• Excuses
• Living in our circumstances instead of our opportunities
• Addition
• Passive-aggressive behavior
• Anger
• Depression
• Low self-esteem
• Unproductive living
• Procrastination
• Stagnation
• Fear
• Complaining
• Gossip
• Oppression
• Poverty
• Vanity
• Pride
• Sedation
• Disease
• Delay
• Justification of action or non-action
• Ungratefulness
• Dissatisfaction
• Resentment
• Lack of purpose and meaning

Again, what about you? How has denial affected your life? Go ahead, get your highlighter out if you have to. Feel free to add to the list and share this with others.

Why do we deny?

The famous psychoanalyst Carl Jung said, “Wholeness for humans depends on the ability to own their own shadow.” Examining the dark side of our humanity can raise a lot of insecurities. We deny the truth to protect ourselves. Our minds deny to guard us from guilt, fear, failure, the pain of loss, grief, condemnation, loneliness and separation.

In the book, Turn Coat author Jim Butcher wrote:

“The human mind isn’t a terribly logical or consistent place. Most people, given the choice to face a hideous or terrifying truth or to conveniently avoid it, choose the convenience and peace of normality. That doesn’t make them strong or weak, or good or bad people. It just makes them people.”

The Conclusion:

We are simply imperfect and marred humans that need a grace filled, perfect Jesus. Our job is surrender, His job is wholeness.