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I’m so tired of pretending… When I was young all I used to do was pretend. I would imagine fighting ninjas and dragons in my back yard. I pretended that I could move things with my mind, and sometimes I would even dream that I could. I was always so disappointed when I woke up and couldn’t make my alarm clock float. I want to say that when I got older I stopped pretending, but that’s not true… I started pretending in new ways…

Instead of pretending that I could tame a dragon, I began pretending like I had all of the answers and that I was in control. I began pretending to be a grownup. I began acting like I wasn’t afraid. But when it comes down to it, in all of it I was just doing what I did before. And like before, I was constantly disappointed in myself.

Christianity is supposed to set us free from these burdens of pretending… but somehow in our twisted nature we corrupt the things that are supposed to point us towards freedom.

There are several passages in the Bible that show that God is just as tired of us pretending as we are. One of the most prominant ones that comes to mind is in the beginning of the book of Isaiah. God’s people have become wicked and fallen into this game of make-believe-worship… They went through the motions pretending that everything was okay when it couldn’t be further from the truth.

God says to his people:

Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings— meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more!
Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out!
I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning.
When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way.
No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I’ll not be listening.
And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody. (Isaiah 1:14-15 The Message)

We do this, don’t we? We get caught up in our meetings, and our events, and our concerts, and our programs, our routine… We feel uneasy and at unrest. We are scared and worried, and we act like everything is okay. We close our eyes and pretend that the world around us is peachy keen while really its falling apart faster than we can tell. We pretend and go to God with smiles pasted on our faces and bookmarks in our Bibles that haven’t moved in months.

I read an account in the New Testament that granted a lot of insight into our continued pretending that God so detests. In the book of Acts it tells a story about Paul and Barnabas in the city Lystra. The two go to Lystra to flee persecution, and there come across a man who was born crippled and as Scripture says,”had never walked.” Paul sees that the man has the faith to be healed and walk for the first time ever. He looks intently at the man and says loudly, “Stand upright on your feet.” And in that moment he is healed and Scripture says he not only rose, but sprang up and began walking…

This miracle was a sign not only for the man but for the people of Lystra as well. However Scripture says that they immediately believed that Barnabas and Paul were the greek gods Zeus and Hermes, and then begin bringing oxen and garlands to the gates to sacrifice to the two men. And when Paul and Barnabas see the people completely missing the point, it breaks their hearts. The passage reads:

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them.”

The apostles in anguish tear their robes and cry out the people…

When I read this I couldn’t help but think about how much we are creatures of habit. The people had spent their whole lives giving sacrifices to these false gods. When Paul and Barnabas come with a message of the true God who sacrificed his Son for them, they missed it and continued to sacrifice. They heard but they didn’t understand. They saw but they didn’t really perceive.

I think many of us can identify with this story, as the people of Lystra. We grow up our as kids pretending and then we get older and are told to fake it till we make it. We put on performances for our friends, for our families, for everyone, trying to be whatever it is that we think they want us to be. And then we wake up one day not sure of who we really are at all. THEN by the grace of God we hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We hear the message that proclaims freedom from all bondage. By the Gospel we are to be free from pretending all together. But like the people Lystra we fall back into our old ways. We begin pretending all over again. Now we pretend for our church, for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and for God… And as the passage in Isaiah reveals, God doesn’t like our pretending.

However, there is hope… there is always hope.

The passage in Isaiah goes on with God’s call to his people to turn from their wicked ways and seek to do good. God offers a word of great hope. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become white like wool.”

The NASB study bible note on this passage says that the phrase, “reason together,” means “to come to a legal decision.” There is no call for a compromise here; the people were to come to an agreement with God concerning the enormous gravity of their sin. God was not declaring His people innocent of wickedness, but He was prepared to pardon their sins if they would repent and turn to Him. God offers us that same forgiveness through Jesus. (The NKJV Study Bible. 2007 (Is 1:18). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.)

God does not call them innocent… Rather he fully recognizes them as wicked, evil, and full of sin… and offers forgiveness.

God knows we are sinful. He knew we were sinful. And He knows we are going to continue to sin.

This last year of my life has been a tremendous learning experience for me. I have learned more about myself, about God, about family, about the true meaning of friendship, about work, and about growing up than I ever would have thought possible. And in all of this, I have learned a great lesson that seems simple, but is much harder to accept than most of us realize…

The beginning of the Gospel is our sin. The more we realize our own depravity, our own brokenness, our own inability to keep everything pretty, the more glorious and powerful the cross of Christ is in our lives. Somewhere along the line Satan tricked many of us into believing that we must be perfect because we have received the grace of God. One day this will be true, but only by the power of God upon the return of His Son.

The transformational power of the Christ comes in our ability to go to God as we are.

A lot has happened in this last year that has caused me to really be angry with God and in that I have faced great frustration because I tried to hide it. I pretended that everything was okay, and it wasn’t until I was completely honest with God that I felt freedom from that anger. God knew I was angry and every time I came to him pretending that I wasn’t, I was lying to Him…

There’s  a video by the skit guys that really helps me with this. In the video God is about to begin chiseling one of His children into a masterpiece and the guy laments, “God I’ve let you down so many times…” God responds, “No, you were never holding me up. I hold you up with my victorious righteous right hand, and don’t you forget it.”

With all of that said, I simply want to plead with you my brothers and sisters to stop pretending. God showed his love to us in that WHILE we were still sinners Christ died for us. God knows the depths of our sin which goes much deeper than we actually think, and loves us in spite of it.

Go to God, as you are and share with him what is on your heart. Are you sad? God will not fear your weakness, He made himself weak that He might sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb 4:15). Are you angry? God does not fear your wrath, rather He voluntarily took it upon the cross. Are you scared? Jesus tamed storms, commanded demons, and conquered death. He did so that you might believe.

The passage in Isaiah continues…

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

God’s word promises that if we are willing and obedient to God he will give us a feast. If we rebel we will fall at our own hands…

My prayer is that you will no longer pretend, but find rest in the fact that God sees our sin and our guilt and offers us forgiveness in spite of it. God is good and His love knows no bounds. May you be yourself before the living God and get lost in that love.

Amen.

No matter how hard we try we cannot avoid being hurt in this world. This place is dirty, its mean, and it doesn’t care one bit what happens to us. There are times whenever things just seem like they couldn’t be any worse, and then something else goes wrong. I’ve been there and know what it’s like. This is my encouragement to you. Do not give up hope. Do not let go of your dreams. You will get knocked down and beat up, but you cannot, you MUST not let it stop you from living your life. Whatever you are dealing with, whatever pain, or depression, or temptation that you might have in your life, it is nothing compared to God. And just as importantly, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Never let the world and the evil in it convince you that you are alone. I am here to say, I live in this world too and I hurt too. And if there is no encouragement in that, I remind you that the God of the universe chose to come down and live in this broken, shattering, pain-filled world just to be near us. He was kind and loving to everyone that he met. When he acted in anger, it was out of love, as a parent should love a child. And for his love, this world rejected him, cast him aside, beat him, spit upon him, and brutally murdered him. But that’s not the end of the story. Despite all of the evil in this world he rose again….

He proved that love is stronger than hate. He proved that justice always prevails. And with all his heart he proved that there was hope. THERE IS HOPE. God let us cling to that hope with every fiber of our being. Our hope is God’s love. Our strength is His joy.

Whatever you are dealing with, God will prevail. Have hope. It is yours.

Just Sayins All…

There is no other way that I get out of bed every morning than by the grace of God. This world is so far from what it could be, there are so many things wrong, and there is so much pain that it is just really hard to go out there everyday. There are a lot of times when we are forced to make terrible decisions, when we are forced to live life between a rock and that hard place. There are broken hearts, lost dreams, regrets and scars. And I am very aware of the pain that every one of us hides. It’s a pain that threatens to cripple us. But we can’t allow it to have this kind of power over us. We have to rise above.

Life is a blessing, but that doesn’t mean that there are no hard times. I think a lot of us have this mentality that if we give everything over to God, bad things will stop happening, that life will somehow just get easier. Anyone that has really followed after God knows that this is unbelievably far from the truth. There are still car accidents, funerals, emergency rooms, paper cuts, and hurricanes. Then you realize following after God means living against almost everything that our modern society is telling us in the midst of it all. It means standing out in the crowd. It means doing what no one else will, and not doing what everyone else does. It means sacrificing things that you want to do. By no means is it easy. It was never intended to be.

In the old testament there is account of a young man named Joseph. Scripture says that Joseph’s father loved him more than any of his brothers and that their father had made a special coat just for Joseph. It was a sign of his greatness, a preview to what he would one day become. Instead of living in their father’s individual love for each of them and cherishing that, Joseph’s let anger lead them to a hate for Joseph. His confidence disturbed them. Joseph did not use his father’s love to place himself above his brothers, he simply took pride in his fathers love. Taking pride in anything else would have been wrong. Then Joseph tells his brothers of some dreams he had and they hated him all the more. Joseph was doing nothing more than living out the life he was called to live, and they despised him. In their anger they took him, stripped him naked and threw him in a hole in the ground, saying to one another, “we’ll see what his dreams amount to.” For nothing more than cherishing his father’s love Joseph is basically stripped, beat, and left for dead. Seems like it would be easy to give up hope, but he didn’t. He went on despite their jealousy and hate to become practically royalty. In the end, the brothers were right, they saw what his dreams amounted to.

This story is our story as well. Our father? God. Our brothers? This world around us and the pain that flourishes in it. We have been given a special coat. We’ve been called to live a higher life. We’ve been called to rise above this world around us. We have been told what we are, Children of God. It’s a sign of our greatness, a preview of what will fully be realized some day. Instead of focusing on the God’s love for each of them individually, the world gives into anger and dissent. God’s love unites, it shouldn’t divide. We are to take pride in this love, live with that kind of meaning in our lives. Taking pride in anything else would just be wrong. And we do have dream. A place with no more tears… no more pain. And the more we talk about this dream the more dissent between us and the world. Sometimes we’re left naked, alone in a hole in the ground, while the world says to itself, “we’ll see what their dreams amount to.” Sometimes it’s really easy to give up our hope, but we can’t. Despite the world, we are children of the Most High King. We must live in this reality. We must live out our dreams. And we’ll all see what they amount to.

Maybe you’re naked alone in a hole in the ground. Maybe your an angry brother. Neither place is a good place to be. Every person ever born is a child of God. We all just lost our way, orphaned by pain. So where’s the difference? Where’s the hope? It comes from realizing where home is. It comes from finding our true father and running into His arms. It means living a life worthy of that love. You are loved. You are loved. You are loved. You are being called to live a live worthy of your Father’s love. Live that life. Take pride in that love, and allow nothing to break your confidence in that love. It won’t be easy, it was never intended to be, but it’s worth it. It’s worth getting out of bed everyday, to know that one day… our dreams will be fully realized. And that can turn each day filled with car accidents, funerals, emergency rooms, paper cuts, and hurricanes into a beautiful day. That’s where the hope is.

As a great song says, “After the flood, all the colors came out.”

Just Sayins All…

Rusty

Have you ever felt like the world was crashing down around you? Has it ever seemed like your life was shrouded in clouds and that the sun would never shine again? Have you ever felt completely alone devoid of any hope? If so, despite how you feel you’re not alone.

There have been so many times that I’ve been down and out in life and just felt like throwing in the towel. Pain, sorrow, regret, anger, frustration, loneliness, anxiety, fear, and feelings of uncertainty… Sometimes it’s really easy to focus on all of the things going wrong and in those times is almost impossible to find the smallest glimmer of peace. One thing goes wrong and then another, then before you know it everything that you knew so well seems so foreign. In these times of darkness we mustn’t give in.

Maybe you’ve done something you regret, maybe you’ve seen something you wish you could forget, maybe you have a secret burning you up from within, maybe you’re just lonely… whatever it is… don’t give up, don’t give in. Know that you’re not alone. We’ve all been there, we all hold these things deep down inside of us. But it’s time that we let them go. It’s time we accept our freedom.

In Psalm 22 David writes with an utmost honesty about the darkness in his life. His world has fallen apart. He cries out to God “Why have you forsaken me?” He feels completely abandoned. Men are attacking him, he’s surrounded and there’s no way out. He is in complete agony terrified of what will happen. But in the midst of everything he finds hope, he finds peace. In the middle of chaos David starts rejoicing about what God is going to do for Him, even though it hasn’t happened yet. He starts praising God for the great things He will do because of what He has already done. The Psalm ends in David proclaiming God’s righteousness “for He has done it.” David is rejoicing because He knew that the messiah (Jesus) would save him. David’s ability to see past is present circumstances astounds me.

There is so much that we have to be thankful for even when everything seems to be going wrong. We have to band together so that whenever one of us falls and begins to doubt, we will be there to pick up and encourage one another. How many of us in the darkest times stop to thank God for what He has done for us. How far past our current circumstances are we able to see?

Last year I went back to my high school homecoming. It was the first time back visiting the school since I graduated. Everyone asked how college was and all of that and I told them how great it was and how much God had begun working in my life. Then when I told one specific friend this, she stopped and looked confused. I asked her what was wrong and she replied, “Well, God’s always working in your life…” I was stunned. This simple truth completely changed the way I looked at what was going on in my life. In the hard times before college I couldn’t see God working, but now I know that it was only because I wasn’t really looking. I couldn’t see past my circumstances because I was too focused on the problems and not what God was doing through the situation.

I just really wanted to put all of this up today just because I know how quickly we can become overwhelmed by the problems in our lives. I want to remind everyone that though things may be seem a little off track, it will be alright. God has taken care of everything for us. He has saved us from the pain of this world through Jesus… Take advantage of this most amazing gift and accept the freedom you’ve been given. Be bold and remember who’s creation you are. Take hold of the life you’ve been given… For He has done it.

Just Sayins All…

Rusty