“You’ll never know who you are unless you shed who you pretend to be.”
― Vironika Tugaleva
EZEKIEL 47-48
“And the name of the city from that time on will be:
THE LORD IS THERE.” (48:35) 1 JOHN 1
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from allb sin.
JOURNAL
Humility and Honesty are the foundation of this letter. Here again we have a former disciple of Christ, having walked with Jesus, having experienced the resurrection and here he is writing letters to christians all over Asia Minor. He cautions against claiming something and not living it...which is thereby using Christ and or moral superiority as a means to puff up or disguise one's sin.
It is interesting that the exact same warnings issued 2000 years ago...apply today. It is not our stuff, our technology, social media etc...the problem is in our hearts. Going back to scripture affirms that God just wants us to surrender to him, be truly grateful for where we are at this moment in time, and follow him in making the most and the best of it. It doesn't matter if it's 2000 years ago, yesterday, today, tomorrow or 2000 years from now...God's message is still the same.
ISAIAH 58:11
It is interesting that the exact same warnings issued 2000 years ago...apply today. It is not our stuff, our technology, social media etc...the problem is in our hearts. Going back to scripture affirms that God just wants us to surrender to him, be truly grateful for where we are at this moment in time, and follow him in making the most and the best of it. It doesn't matter if it's 2000 years ago, yesterday, today, tomorrow or 2000 years from now...God's message is still the same.
11The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
ISAIAH 58:11
I like the first quote a lot! And its so hard to do, especially when you don't even realize you are pretending. Maybe the quote should read "until you shed your delusions about who you THINK you are." I have begun to challenge myself when someone seems to have a bad opinion of me to try to see myself through their eyes, hear my words through their ears. And many times I find myself agreeing with them and determining to do better. But I couldn't do that without the last verse. "The Lord will guide you ALWAYS;" YEs, even if I have been truly the jerk that I never meant to be.
ReplyDeleteFlip side: I tend to give others the benefit of the doubt because my motivations are usually good, despite how things somehow turn out. I assume others only hurt me out of ignorance. I have found that not to be true. There are apparently people who pretend and who KNOW they are pretending. They manipulate and hurt because it makes them feel powerful. The only explanation I have is that we need to heed the warnings to guard our hearts and minds from anything which we know to be evil. The adversary is very, very sneaky but also very real.
And that's my 2 cents worth for the day : )