I am going off script today and basically ... just rambling. BUT I think there is a pattern of thought:
Contemplation #1: Lately I have been pondering the facts of life and how the power of self deception is subtle yet so powerfully enslaving. I watch AFV from time to time and on one episode, a woman had a VR headset on, pointed screamed, ducked and fell down. Whatever she saw in the video headset caused her reality to shift and she no longer saw the video for what it was, but mistook it as reality and responded. How does this happen? Such depth of contemplation is beyond me to arrive at an answer I shouldn't wonder.
Contemplation #2: There is of course, misperceptions: how I see myself, I how think you see me, and how you think you see me. Then there is of course, how God truly sees us. Misunderstandings happen, for sure, but the thinking that you have portrayed yourself one way and it was taken another can be downright befuddling to the mind and impaling to the heart. There isn't enough blogspace to speak about how a simple choice or statement I make to my spouse can become so burdensome of a problem demanding all of my concentration to explain and re-explain myself. "No, I did NOT mean it that way..."
Contemplation #3: How do you get what you want? This opens a can of monstrous worms bearing such names as Rationalization and Justification which are invented explanations that deny our true motivations (the root) for how we get what we want. Manipulations shouldn't happen but most often they do within the self so we can have the pleasure we think we should not be denied. Now this leads us to alternative realities we create for ourselves.
Contemplation #4: The definition of "fantasy" could be observed by watching how most anyone lives today--a generalization I know, but hear me out. When we fantasize on purpose, we imagine things impossible or improbable with "what-if" scenarios. This is a very powerful passtime God has given us to use for constructive reasoning and playing out possibilities for hoping, planning, constructing, and making art--what we can see in our mind, we can bring about. This ability can cross over into fantasizing--which I do not think I need to explain.
Misinterpreting is not fantasizing, nor are misunderstandings; but they can lead to sinful exploring of possibilities of another person's intent (which is left in the dark places of another person where only God can judge) and then reacting on those thoughts. God commanded us to not bear false witness, to not covet, to not kill, to not commit adultery--and these acts all have roots in the motivations of the heart fantasizing about what could be real and playing God to make those wishes a reality.
Contemplation #5: Our imagination is a powerful gift and worth protecting. Let me play that episode one more time of the lady with the VR headset. What if we could fantasize about winning the world for Christ? To me, that fantasizing is actually very close to prayer as God intended it.
When we play by the world's rules, we are caught up in a fantasy. To contemplate whose fantasy it is seems plain and horrifying at the same time. But there is something greater--the reality of God the best we can interpret it upon its revelation to us. He remembers we are but dust! his plans have been dumbed-down for even a child to grasp and yet so profound in its understanding that it enlivens the soul. What God has for you gives you life; what the world has sucks you dry.
When we reason as the world wants us to according to the rules of marketing and buy-in, we take one step away from the kingdom of God and its gates into the darkness where Satan lives. True, the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church being built on the rock of Jesus' name! But where the church prevails, light takes over, and the darkness cannot wrestle it down. That is why Paul gives us powerful clues when he tells us to "think on these things" list in Philippians 4. That book speaks so much about fantasy and reality and how to have our minds shaped by God!
When we rationalize, we short-circuit what God is wanting to see done in our hearts and minds. The solution. The Bible calls it REPENTANCE. That comes from the awareness of our self-deception (through the preaching of the Word and the building of our faith by the light of the Gospel of God and illumination of the Holy Ghost). Only when we become aware can we begin the work of inner healing.
Do you want to wave goodbye to fantasy and say hello to God's reality? Wave off the illusions of the delusions of your controlling your life, your Christianity, your providing yourself your own grace to to fake it to make it. Things probably are not as they seem. There is a road ahead in Christ. ANd it is probably NOT as you imagine it.
Future contemplations:
#6 GRACE TAKES ROOT = AWARENESS
#7 The enemy's power is in the lie = EXPOSING and UPROOTING THE LIES we have told ourselves and willing believed.
#8 FANNING AWAY THE FOG while ANSWERING THE, "WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT?" QUESTION
Contemplation #1: Lately I have been pondering the facts of life and how the power of self deception is subtle yet so powerfully enslaving. I watch AFV from time to time and on one episode, a woman had a VR headset on, pointed screamed, ducked and fell down. Whatever she saw in the video headset caused her reality to shift and she no longer saw the video for what it was, but mistook it as reality and responded. How does this happen? Such depth of contemplation is beyond me to arrive at an answer I shouldn't wonder.
Contemplation #2: There is of course, misperceptions: how I see myself, I how think you see me, and how you think you see me. Then there is of course, how God truly sees us. Misunderstandings happen, for sure, but the thinking that you have portrayed yourself one way and it was taken another can be downright befuddling to the mind and impaling to the heart. There isn't enough blogspace to speak about how a simple choice or statement I make to my spouse can become so burdensome of a problem demanding all of my concentration to explain and re-explain myself. "No, I did NOT mean it that way..."
Contemplation #3: How do you get what you want? This opens a can of monstrous worms bearing such names as Rationalization and Justification which are invented explanations that deny our true motivations (the root) for how we get what we want. Manipulations shouldn't happen but most often they do within the self so we can have the pleasure we think we should not be denied. Now this leads us to alternative realities we create for ourselves.
Contemplation #4: The definition of "fantasy" could be observed by watching how most anyone lives today--a generalization I know, but hear me out. When we fantasize on purpose, we imagine things impossible or improbable with "what-if" scenarios. This is a very powerful passtime God has given us to use for constructive reasoning and playing out possibilities for hoping, planning, constructing, and making art--what we can see in our mind, we can bring about. This ability can cross over into fantasizing--which I do not think I need to explain.
Misinterpreting is not fantasizing, nor are misunderstandings; but they can lead to sinful exploring of possibilities of another person's intent (which is left in the dark places of another person where only God can judge) and then reacting on those thoughts. God commanded us to not bear false witness, to not covet, to not kill, to not commit adultery--and these acts all have roots in the motivations of the heart fantasizing about what could be real and playing God to make those wishes a reality.
Contemplation #5: Our imagination is a powerful gift and worth protecting. Let me play that episode one more time of the lady with the VR headset. What if we could fantasize about winning the world for Christ? To me, that fantasizing is actually very close to prayer as God intended it.
When we play by the world's rules, we are caught up in a fantasy. To contemplate whose fantasy it is seems plain and horrifying at the same time. But there is something greater--the reality of God the best we can interpret it upon its revelation to us. He remembers we are but dust! his plans have been dumbed-down for even a child to grasp and yet so profound in its understanding that it enlivens the soul. What God has for you gives you life; what the world has sucks you dry.
When we reason as the world wants us to according to the rules of marketing and buy-in, we take one step away from the kingdom of God and its gates into the darkness where Satan lives. True, the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church being built on the rock of Jesus' name! But where the church prevails, light takes over, and the darkness cannot wrestle it down. That is why Paul gives us powerful clues when he tells us to "think on these things" list in Philippians 4. That book speaks so much about fantasy and reality and how to have our minds shaped by God!
When we rationalize, we short-circuit what God is wanting to see done in our hearts and minds. The solution. The Bible calls it REPENTANCE. That comes from the awareness of our self-deception (through the preaching of the Word and the building of our faith by the light of the Gospel of God and illumination of the Holy Ghost). Only when we become aware can we begin the work of inner healing.
Do you want to wave goodbye to fantasy and say hello to God's reality? Wave off the illusions of the delusions of your controlling your life, your Christianity, your providing yourself your own grace to to fake it to make it. Things probably are not as they seem. There is a road ahead in Christ. ANd it is probably NOT as you imagine it.
Future contemplations:
#6 GRACE TAKES ROOT = AWARENESS
#7 The enemy's power is in the lie = EXPOSING and UPROOTING THE LIES we have told ourselves and willing believed.
#8 FANNING AWAY THE FOG while ANSWERING THE, "WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT?" QUESTION
#9 Jesus asks every question we need to answer. For example, he asked the blind man, "What is it you would have me do for you?" Or the caught and thrusted woman at Jesus' feet, he asks, "Where are your accusers?" Or to the disciples, "Who do YOU say that I am?"
#10 Paul picks up this Q&A when he asks things like, "What? Do you not know..." The question acts like a plow for the seed of the answer to fall into.
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gifts!