salt-shaker.blog

My late husband was a delighter of children and adults alike with his hobby as a magician. He performed for birthdays, went to schools for shows, or spontaneously pulled quarters out of kids’ ears at restaurants or grocery stores. He enjoyed stunning people with his entertaining tricks. He practiced long and hard, and since he did so many shows, he kept a list of what illusions he had done at each event so as not to be repetitious. That said, some tricks made the trip into the magic case regularly. They worked so well. He loved it, and he brought joy to many. As a believer he would use the illusions as a springboard to share the good news whenever it was appropriate. His bottom line was “I have secrets that you do not know so I can perform these tricks. We all have secrets, some good and some bad, and God knows all of them. He wants to forgive the bad secrets and invite us to trust Jesus as our friend.”

The master illusionist has been at it for thousands of years, doing the “look over there” attention diverter while he insinuates his lies into our hearts and culture. People were baffled by my husband’s tricks. It seemed impossible that anything except what they saw could be happening. This same principle is at work in the battle for truth, only with sinister intent and disastrous results. Each of us has fallen for lies crafted towards our natural bent. Our mortal enemy convinces us to rely on what hurts, diminishes, or robs our humanity. History is littered with the disastrous evidence of his handiwork.

Knowing the devil’s devious tactic, seeing ‘behind the curtain’ so to speak, arms us in the battle for our very souls and equips us in our struggle for community. If we embrace distorted perceptions of our creator and HIs intentions, most of the work is done in neutralizing our destiny both here and beyond. “Look over there!” rather than examine the written account of God’s plan for our collaboration in His universe. “Has God said?” “The Bible is just cultural narrative.” God is holding out on you.” “Your way is better.” “You will be like God.” “You deserve autonomy.” “Jesus did not rise from the dead.” “Jesus was just a great moral teacher.”“You are merely a pawn.” “We have evolved beyond such simplistic ideas.” “Religion is bad for humanity.” “There is no afterlife.” “God is genocidal.” “There is no proof for God.” “The universe is self sustaining.” “Suffering proves He is not good.” “God is power hungry.” “Believing in God is an archaic prop.” “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.” “God will not punish sinners.” “It’s not sin it’s syndrome.” “We cannot trust God’s intentions.” Science has disproven God.” “Humanity will evolve into god.”“I am too bad for God to forgive.” “I am not that bad.” ““Surely you will not die.” Add your pet evasion here: _________________________.

Then there is the real pain of being offended, damaged, shunned, mistreated, or downright bored with God’s church or His people. While the objections in the former paragraph can be answered with reasonable arguments, there is weak defense for church offenses. Of course, some people do have good wholesome experiences, but this does not seem as common. Churchianity is more prevalent than Christianity. My idealistic mind condescendingly condemns the current expression of community life in God. Then I remind myself that I have been both hurt and hurtful, a recovering legalist unlearning and relearning, often at the expense of others. I have since roamed from gathering to gathering witnessing various expressions of church. I am well aware that flawed people, forgiven and in varying stages of healing from brokenness, come together and celebrate gift over character, doctrine over community care, or embrace cultural shifts as spirituality. I have also been cared for and enriched. Observing the history of God’s redemptive journey with a fallen race, He worked with individuals, families, a nation, came in person, then left the Holy Spirit and a community. In every scenario there has been a distorted reflection of His plan and purpose by us obtuse followers. He corrects and forgives but does not withdraw. That gives hope to us personally as we recognize the depths of our own waywardness. He kept interacting – and, as a matter of fact – the next phase is for Jesus to return in person to govern righteousness into the world. Maranatha!

So what really is our focus? Where is our attention? The dazzling and persuasive apprehensions offered by the head magician, the offenses engendered by lofty expectations of God’s people, or the perplexing struggles of life in a broken ecosystem? Maybe it’s the hypocrisy or political attachments of some Jesus followers. There is an avalanche of roadblocks to derail us from a proper view of God and His liberating intentions. Or perhaps we live in the quicksand of those misgivings as an excuse to fend off the God Who invites us to relationship. He will challenge our false security, our selfish attitudes, our destructive choices. Plus – and no small thing – to belong to Him means we will be associated with those “contemptible” followers who also call on His name. However, God’s love demands a response.

So what will it be? Is eternity (starting now) worth risking on an illusion? The path – asking, seeking, knocking – will bring us to One claiming to be the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus promises that He is the light of the world and that trusting Him will deliver us from delusion. Why not risk what you cannot keep to gain what you cannot lose (Jim Elliot)? Go for it!!

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By the way – shameless plug – some of those disturbing objections to God and His goodness are addressed on the Salt-shaker.blog website. Go explore!