A Message to fellow Christians,
Today I became overtly aware that I do not belong here. I really am a foreigner in a strange land. I don’t know if it snuck up on me or if I have just been setting a blind-eye to it until today. Everywhere I look I see things that should not be normal. I see things accepted as though they are good and worth celebrating instead of acknowledging they are wrong and broken. I am in a land that makes no sense, a land where I love others but am considered hateful. I walk into a movie theatre that should be booming with people to a desolate place waited on by strangers without smiles behind plastic and masks. Where are all the familiar people? How did I get here? I want to go back and yet I’m afraid there is no going-back.
In chapter 17 of the book of John, Jesus prays for himself and then his disciples. A disciple is someone who follows another and strives to be like the example they follow. Jesus taught the twelve 2000 years ago but He teaches us through His word today. We too are His disciples if we have put our faith in Him and continue to learn and grow to be more like Him. In verse 9 it says, “I pray for them (disciples). I am not praying for the world but those You have given Me, because they are yours.” While we know that Jesus loves the whole world, sinner and saved, He has a special concern for His disciples.
In verse 11 He says, “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world…Holy Father, protect them.” Jesus knows that there is danger in this world for those who follow Him. He has given us His word for our protection and health of mind, body and spirit. It’s the very thing we must cling to when the world confuses us. But in having that sacred book of life-giving words He notes in verse 14, “I have given them Your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world.” Have you ever noticed that you don’t belong? Has there ever been a time when you felt like a foreigner in your own hometown or even your home?
I have to be honest; I’ve had glimpses of this truth throughout my life but haven’t actually seen it as clearly as I see it these days. There is some confidence that while we are not of this world, we are sojourners at the right place and at the right time. Next Jesus says in verse 15-18, “I am not praying that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one…Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” We, my friend, have been sent out into a world in which we are foreigners. We are called to bring the light of Christ into a dark and confused world. We are to shed the light of truth on the shadowy things that the enemy tries to pass as good.
The Old Testament prophet Isaiah called out the confusion and sin in the tribe of Judah and it rings as true for us today as it did back then. He proclaims the Lord’s words: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion.” God is telling us that things He calls good the world now calls evil and things He calls evil the world now calls good. And He follows that all up with woe to those who choose the wisdom of their own opinion over the wisdom of truth. Truth which is declared by God’s word is wholly authoritative and pure. He is warning us of the greatest gaslighting scheme to ever be introduced to our world. The enemy is trading truth for lies and the world is eating it up. The enemy is the father of lies and has been since the beginning. John 8:44 says, “He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.” As Christians we must look to the Word of Truth and place our confidence in it, lest we be deceived by the enemy just as the world is deceived.
Yesterday was a dismal day and my boys and I decided to head to the nearest movie theatre that was open and see our first movie on the big screen in over a year, Godzilla vs King Kong. One of my favorite parts of going to the movie theatre is seeing the previews of what is to come. As a movie junkie it’s always fun to plan the next movie I want to see. During the previews they now add in a commercial or two. One of the commercials was for a home improvement store and the premise for the whole commercial was that home/family is whatever you make of it, but the focus wasn’t really on the paint and the product so much as the dimension and diversity of the people combinations in the ad. It was an upbeat and cheery advertisement that was not only meant to sell you on home renovations but it was meant to affirm every kind of diversity in relationships that you could imagine.
Because I am a disciple of the Lord I wear a pair of spectacles that filter what I see and hear through the truth of His word, it’s my worldview. While looking through those spectacles I saw some true beauty and I also saw some things that according to the word of God are ugly. Our world does such a great job of wrapping it all together in such a lovely package that it’s easy to overlook the evil that is being passed as good. It is hard not to get swept up into the happiness portrayed in the people and the fun they seem to be having together as the music pushes an upbeat vibe of joy. I just warn you that the joy the world offers is nothing compared to the joy of the Lord. John 17:13 is Jesus saying, “I speak these things in the world so that they may have My joy completed in them.” The joy and happiness the world offers is nothing compared to the joy the truth of God brings. The truth of God brings and eternal joy that will be complete, while the joy of the world is fleeting and often only gift-wrap on a package of pain and brokenness. Christians, don’t fall for the lies of the enemy and succumb to the gaslighting that he is doing to our world.
I know the enemy I am up against as I speak the truth. Some of you have already fallen prey to his marketing and will hate the things I am saying. But if you are a Christian I urge you to dive into your Bible and see if what I say is true. The apostle Paul was encouraged by the Bereans, “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” You don’t have to believe what I say just because I say it but if you claim to be a Christian then examine the word of God and see if what I say is true.
I also walked away from the movie reminded of a truth in God’s word. In the movie Godzilla and King Kong are set as rivals who fight each other, but at another point in the movie there is another foe who is manmade evil that rises up that needs to be defeated. For a moment, Godzilla and King Kong fight against the real enemy together. Ephesians 6:11-12 state, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the tactics of the Devil. For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil.” Our battle is not against the people in our world but the enemy who lies to them. It’s so important to remember who the enemy is so that we don’t destroy the people whom we want to share the message of Christ’s love and joy.
How do we keep moving forward in such a strange world? Paul encourages us, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good and pleasing will.” Our transformation of mind comes from God’s most precious word. He offers us truth to nourish our minds and protect us from lies. Paul tells Timothy, his student in ministry, “For a time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn away from truth and turn aside to myths.” My dear friend, don’t let this be you. Don’t look for someone to tell you what you want to hear but instead be transformed by the truth. Lies we want to believe will not bring us life but death. I promise you; love and truth go hand in hand. Love and lies are an oxymoron, they don’t go together and the combination will always be in the shadow and control of the liar.
We are most certainly foreigners in a strange land and I am afraid the land is going to be more dangerous and stranger every day. Little Hadassah is a foreigner in exile but God raises her to a position of prominence as she becomes Queen Esther and has the opportunity to save her people from destruction. Esther was in the place she needed to be at just the right time, “Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this,” (Esther 4:14). I want to encourage my fellow sojourners that we may be in a foreign place, a place that is not our home, but we are here because God ordained this time for us. Be a people of the word and a people of truth and carry His light into the shadowy places so that others may know the Lord’s complete and perfect joy.
Hopscotch Heidi