Do you feel that we live in a plastic society? We use plastic cards to make purchases, which provides the illusion that we own what we have purchased and brought home, but the truth is that as long as there is a balance on the plastic credit card, it owns us. Credit cards are easy to use, but when the bills come, we are often amazed that we spent so much and the illusion we had disappears.
We often appear to own what we really don’t. Many of us work at jobs we hate simply because they give us titles and a feeling of importance. We can undergo plastic surgery or liposuction, have our haird colored, or wear hair extensions or wigs. With an unlimited budget, we could do just about anything we wanted to alter our appearance. We can put on a plastic smile and tell the world we are fine while we are inside falling apart. It’s all an illusion.
When we ask people how they are, the answer is usually “Fine,” but the person might actually be freaked out, insecure, neurotic and erratic. As Christians we often believe that we should feel better than we do, or that it is wrong to feel the way we do, so we hide our feelings from everyone. Sometimes we try to hide the way we really feel from our own selves. We pretend to have faith while we’re full of doubt. We pretend to be happy while we are miserable; and we pretend to be in control and have it all together, but at home behind closed doors, we are totally different people We don’t want to admit that we are living phony lives so we stay busy enough that we never have to deal with things as they really are. We may even bury ourselves in church work or spiritual activitiy as a way of hiding from God. He is trying to show us truth, but we would rather work for Him than listen to Him.
God just wants us to be honest and real. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking all your feelings are wrong. Being a person of faith does not mean you will never have negative or ungodly feelings. We will experience feelings that need to be dealt with, but we can always exercise our faith in God and ask Him to help us not to allow our feelings to control us. The Bible says we live by faith and not by sight (see 2 Cor. 5:7). That means we don’t make decisions based on what we see or feel, but according to our faith in God and His promises to us. I don’t think what we feel is a sin as long as we are talking to God about it and securing His strength to choose to act on His Word and not on how we feel. The Bible says to be angry and sin not. That literally means you can feel angry about an injustice, but if you deal with it properly then it will not become sin (see Eph. 4:26).
The truth makes us free. We are to live truly, and above all be truthful with God and ourselves. The Bible also says that we are to reject all falsity; be done with it and let everyone express truth with his neighbor (see Eph.4:25). I don’t think that means we should spill our guts to everyone we meet about everything we feel and have done in life, but we cannot have plastic relationshps that are built on pretense.
Comment