When Bad Posture is Good

I’ll never forget the first time my dad spoke to the issue of my poor posture when I was a young teenager. Of course it didn’t help that we kids back then shoved our hands deep into our pockets and shuffled around in our tattered bell bottoms in a lazy and hunched over manner (much like modern day gamers hunch). My dad was right to tell me to straighten up, in more ways than one.

Now mind you my dad was very aware of people’s posture and the straightness of their backs because he suffered greatly with a severe case of scoliosis, due to the fact that he contracted Polio when he was a child, and unfortunately he lived with little to no treatment for his malady. So from early on in his life he had a football sized hump on one side of his back and fought off pain and a slouch all of his adult life until his death.

But let me ask you; is there ever a time When Bad Posture is Good posture?

And I would tell you the answer is yes; when that posture is broken and humbled before our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That’s right. Some of the most awesome times of connection and intimacy with Jesus are when we are found with poor posture as we hang our heads in deep felt humility before our King. Oh this type broken and bent posture is not for self-effacement alone, for that in itself has never moved the Hand of Mercy, but for the total and confident understanding that He alone holds the key to our healing, our forgiveness, our restoration and our victory over all things – including sin and ourselves.

Let me add a parenthesis to my point. Because I know some of you will already be mentally citing Hebrews 4:16, especially you KJV folks and its use of the word “boldly” when describing a believers approach to God’s throne, and with that I do not disagree. But I will say that holy boldness and holy humility go hand in hand. Without holy boldness, one with a broken posture might only get so far before they feel the sting and reprisal of self, sin, and satanic condemnation. Therefore the author of Hebrews reminds us of the confidence or boldness that we are to approach our God, despite our past or present condition or circumstances.

Yet in like manner we must also possess holy humility when we approach, for no one with vain or provocative bravado will EVER EVEN get close to His glory, let alone His mercy for help in time of need. For we know He gives grace to the humble, but he resists or opposes even the slightest hint of pride. Therefore one must be both humble and bold at the same time. The boldness demonstrates our belief (faith) and understanding of the magnitude of His grace as our single resource. And our humility of state and posture is our overt and visible confession of the truth from within; that says “without Him we are but dust, lost, hopeless and paralytic”. Our humble yet bold estate before Him comprises the perfect synergy of all the elements creation and Creator are united in.

So as I close my thoughts on this subject that my heart longs for more than anything, let me ask you: How’s your posture these days?

Remember, When Bad Posture is Good, others may frown and speculate, but He’ll never will.