This week has been a tough week. From strangers trying to video call me, naked, pretending to want to talk about Jesus, to speaking to strangers about my book, ‘Bedroom Called Rainbow’, and my life walk with Jesus.
I have found myself retreating into myself at work whilst going to default class-clown which is the lonely-Arion-setting when my mind doesn’t get engaged with topics that cause me to think deeply. It sounds so trite, but shooting the breeze trivia is so dull. Oh gosh, and if I have to do one more human being a barbie-garbie I might end myself.
As I settle down to get into my Father’s Presence, I am acutely aware that I need my DAD to fill me and strengthen me with Himself after a week of plasticized versus realness.
Paul’s experience in Acts 19 stirs deeply within me. To understand Acts 19 we need a grasp of the times this event happened in.
Philosophically, there were terrible pagan practices, much human pontificating about existential matters, and hyper religiosity as a status symbol. People argued naturalistic ideas, invented gods-of-their-understanding, and people were exploited by all which ways.
Acts 19 vs 8-10, has some interesting details that stand true in our time too.
Notice that Paul taught for 3 months, at first, and two more years. This screams at our obstinance and insecurity parading as control issues.
WHY?
You and I struggle with a mental game called imagined realities. Case-in-point are humans acting out a fantasy to be a barbie-look-a-like which tells us the deep dissatisfaction with ourselves to the point where we want to be someone else. We dress up, choose careers based on financial gain and status, drive fancy cars as a status symbol, etc etc. We virtue signal on trending topics, but behind close doors we are terrible people. Gosh we even have statements like, “Trophy wife/husband.”
So what do we do about our imagined reality that we fill in with our lives like a paint-by-number box of curated chocolates?
We bully eachother to use our pronouns of course. We find our neo-tribal cilque. We go to “professional” it’s-just-business mode.
I love how this Holy Scripture uses the word reasoning twice. This word teaches us that God knows that we have our ideas that need to be turned towards THE TRUTH of HIMSELF, and is that God is willing and able to turn our cognitive dissonance IF we are willing to get naked before God.
And that has been the week, summed up in a single word- N A K E D.
Jesus loves us so much that He allowed Himself to be tortured, crucified, and mocked, JUST SO THAT He could achieve His Mission of defeating death (us dying was never God’s Plan). God created us perfectly immortal to be with Him in Perfection forever. Sadly, our early ancestors-Adam and Eve- chose ego, like we still do, and this has resulted in this life that we imagine is our true reality.
THIS LIFE IS NOT OUR ULTIMATE REALITY!!!
We are meant to be, and we’re supposed to be Children of Light, and we will again become as we were supposed to be IF we can stop being stubborn enough to let God reason with us and turn us to Jesus who is THE WAY to save us from an inevitable fate that once it arrives we will see how truly naked we in fact are, and our imagined barbie lives nothing but a flight of fancy-a puff of smoke or dust on the wind of eternity.
JESUS WANTS TO SAVE US, BUT WE MUST WANT TO BE SAVED.
Can you allow yourself the privilege to be stripped naked before God and be confronted about the sin that eats you alive?
PRAY THIS:
Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit
I admit that I am a bit of an imagined-reality-barbie-garbie. I need You to strip me naked of my pretenses, lies, and psuedoness. I need You to reason with me and change me from believing the deceitful veil before me. Open my eyes and ears to see YOUR TRUTH, helping me to give up my conditioned ideas.
Jesus,
Please be my Lord and Saviour and help me to follow Your Commandments.
Holy Spirit,
Convict me and change me by helping me be willing to be stripped bare of self and renewed in my mind, heart, and life, so that I too, like Paul, can walk within The Kingdom of God.
In Your Holy Name King Jesus
AMEN
#Hayibo 