I fall into the category, by default, of being controversial. I am a SSA (same-sex attracted) sinner that is practicing celibacy to honour Jesus as God is very clear about sexual sin. As you can see that puts me in the firing line of three groups:
1) Pro-homosexuality
2) Preferential sin bias fundamentalists
3) Secularists who rally against God
Oh well, that’s life. Misery loves company.
Psalm 115 vs 1-8, bears a particular relevance to me that I hope to shed light into areas we all find we have become idolatrous.
Right off the bat, Psalm 115, proves the consistency, truth, and righteousness of God.
HOW?
Notice the question, “Where is your God?”
Throughout the Holy Bible we see God separating the Israelites from paganism which had elaborate handmade idols to depict their demonically-inspired, but humanist-interpreted “gods” that gave expression to human desires. Then as it still is today, people of THEE LIVING GOD still get asked, “Where is your God?”
This is an extremely important statement that reveals cognitive dissonance through rehearsed practices that have become habit forming to the point that the deceived don’t know we are deceived.
The truth is, as per Johari’s Window, we each have blindspots we are unaware of, and things we are not knowledgeable about as we don’t even know about them at all. Hence, why we cannot be the standard of morality, righteousness, Holiness, or sound judgement. Those traits can ONLY be imparted through God who is the Creator and knows how to navigate our conditioning to become who says we are.
DO YOU KNOW HOW TO BECOME A CHILD OF LIGHT?
Obviously we don’t. This is the area of human consciousness Johari’s Window is talking about- there are things we have no clue about. BUT GOD DOES, and is transforming us from sinner in a fallen world into the coheir Child of Light through Christ for His Eternal Glory.
Philippians 3 vs 12-14:
‘Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.’
But, verse 8, Psalm 115, expounds this line of thought that we become what we focus on, ‘All who made them and trust in them become like the idols they have made.’
The verses prior, allude to a dead inanimate object, so how do we become dead inanimate objects ourselves?
I remember when I was 17 and first entered into a gay lifestyle. I copied the way people dressed, the flamboyant speak and mannerisms, and learned the behavioural dysfunction as they mentored through example. Eventually, I was so far removed from who I dreamed of being that I lived an identity as a form of acceptance. The more I buried myself into the lifestyle, the worse my self-loathing became, and the more I sought acceptance from darker and darker things and people. Until eventually suicidation was knocking regularly.
I had become an inanimate object, an idea. That idea almost killed me.
Genetics has now successfully proven that SSA is a placebo affect stemming from socialized- learned behaviour. God’s Word proves correct.
What clothing brand, celebrity, sport behaviour, people, things, culture, philosophies, behaviours have you copied to fit in?
All those are idols. It is ONLY JESUS that we should be moulding our lives around. Messiah King Jesus is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, THE LIFE.
Another proof of the correctness of God is found in Psalm 115 which outlines habitual practice makes us ‘square peg ourselves into round holes’.
‘Scientific America’, says of practices fuelled by beliefs that become habits, “
We all begin this process when we are very young. Yet it comes with a trade-off that can work against us. The more routine a behavior becomes, the less we are aware of it. We lose the fully alert surveillance of that behavior. Did I actually turn off the stove before I left the house? Did I lock the door? This loss of surveillance not only can interfere with our daily functioning, it also can allow bad habits to creep up on us. Many people who gain weight, just a couple of pounds at a time, suddenly realize that they have been going to the snack aisle or the doughnut shop more and more frequently, scarcely thinking about it as they do.
This insidious failure to check our actions also means that habits can become akin to addictions. Witness computer gaming, Internet gambling, and constant texting and tweeting—and of course alcohol and drug use. A repetitive, addiction-driven pattern of behavior can take over part of what had been deliberate choice.”- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-brain-makes-and-breaks-habits/
In addiction recovery there is a statement we practice, “Play the movie to the end.” It is the con of entertainment that makes having a drink, drugs, sex, etc, seem glamorous, but the after party ends up in ‘jails, institutions, or death’.
God, our Merciful Father, gave us The Holy Bible, Jesus, and the disciples to show us the way out of our learned behaviours that lead to eternal death, ultimately.
PRAY THIS:
Father God,
Please allow Your Holy Spirit to unfold all my conditioned behaviour that feels right because it is familiar, but is in contradiction to Your Holy Truth. Make me willing to unlearn. Help me find the right mentor to hold me accountable and who will teach me accurately about Jesus. Forgive me for choosing destruction by believing lies. Cleanse me from evil in my thoughts, speech, and actions. Break every habit that resembles idolatry as You call it so. Help me to honour You with all my life by striving towards a Phillipians 4 vs 8 lifestyle.
IN YOUR HOLY NAME MESSIAH KING JESUS
AMEN
#Hayibo 