As we go through life, there are times when our confidence wavers. There are times of deep discouragement, disappointment and despair. Quite often these dark moments result from the interactions we have with people around us. For instance, have you ever put your confidence in a person and been disappointed? Have you ever suffered a let-down by someone you trusted deeply?
More of Him
We humans have a pervasive desire for power, fame, wealth and recognition. We will go to great lengths to outdo one another, and we will frown at anyone or anything that gets in our way. Even as little children, we display the desire to see our names in lights. The little girl wants to be a princess and the little boy wants to be a superhero and both desires are encouraged and rewarded with loving nods by the adults in their lives. Very soon, these desires and ambitions dominate our adult lives. But in the Confession of St. Augustine, Augustine writes: “Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Not only is it sin, it is a perverse distortion of the image of the Creator in us. All these good things, and all our security, are rightly found only and completely in him (Philippians 3:8).”
Be Very Sure!
Over the last few months, I’ve heard a certain phrase used repeatedly, “You do you!” It is often stated with such emphasis as though to convince the hearer of its ultimate wisdom and truth. On the one hand, God created you to be unique, no one else is like you, so go ahead and be you. However, the modern take on this phrase goes further, it gives one the license to be a free spirit, no matter where that spirit takes one. In other words, in this modern era, people are free to be and do whatever pleases them. Whatever feels good to you, go ahead and do it. However you want to show up in the world, go ahead and be it. No one has a right to an opinion concerning your lifestyle because it is your life. On the surface, this is a tempting proposition.
Peace, Be Still
Our current world is fraught with danger; fraught with pettiness and rumors; fraught with worry and all manner of ugliness and confusion. I would even dare say; a perfect storm is brewing. It is easy to get carried away by the sludge; it is easy to get immune to the wickedness. It is easy to want to withdraw from it all and pretend, it will all go away quietly. It is quite easy to normalize this corrosive, oppressive, unsound and ungodly environment. In fact this is what the devil hopes we will do. But God is looking for those who will be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer (Romans 12:12) in spite of the storm.