Day 12 of Illumination: Enlightenment must slay the sacred cow.

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4:12-13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The aspect of something being sacred is found throughout God’s word. When something is deemed as sacred it is something that is set apart for special use in terms of activities associated with the worship of a deity.

Now, we know that nothing is truly sacred unless the Lord has made it so. However, the fact is that different religions—in that they are worshiping different “gods”—find different things sacred. Indeed, the Hindu religion reveres cows as being sacred.

Now, there is actually a surprising amount of disagreement as to where the phrase “sacred cow” originated; but for our purposes, a sacred cow is anything that an individual protects as being above any sort of criticism, examination, or evaluation.

Given enough time in relationship with most people you will stumble upon a topic that is met with surprising defensiveness. The person with whom you are interacting may suddenly change the topic, clam up, or even seem agitated or angry. Often we view that scenario and think, “I must’ve touched a nerve.” But there’s a very good chance that what you touched was their sacred cow.

Now, if you want to continue having a relationship with that person, I would suggest that you not set in to giving their sacred cow a full body scan. If it has something to do with their walk with the Lord, you need to pray about how the Lord would have you deal with that. But—as difficult as navigating around another person’s sacred cows may be, that dynamic pales in comparison to what happens when we limit the Lord’s access to our sacred cows.

In our opening scripture today we see the writer of Hebrews talking about the fact that nothing is hidden from the Lord. The Lord—through His spirit and His written word—will seek out every dark corner of our being. Nothing is hidden and nothing can be held as untouchable in terms of His dealings with us.

The scripture found just before our opening passage gives more insight into its meaning:

“So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4:11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The context is a warning against allowing disobedience to cause us to fail to enter into the rest God has offered through Jesus Christ. Then comes the scriptures speaking of how nothing can be hidden from the Lord. In other words, the Lord knows where you’ve stalled your sacred cows.

Now, what does all of this have to do with enlightenment?

Make no mistake, if you continue to hold any area of your life as being above God’s scrutiny or control you will greatly inhibit—if not prevent—any enlightenment concerning other areas in your life. With the Lord, in terms of His transforming power (part of which is our process of enlightenment), it eventually will become an all or nothing prospect. Either you want to know what God wants or you don’t. Oh, let’s go on to know the Lord and present all of our sacred cows on His altar!

We light a twelfth candle of illumination today by knowing this:

Enlightenment must slay the sacred cow.

#25daysofillumination