Skip to main content

Acting Like It

              Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. (II Corinthians 7:1)

          I’ve read stories and encountered people who fall in love and struggle to become worthy or prove their worthiness to the one they love. Many women, in planning their weddings, want to pick out the perfect dress and lose weight so they look good in it. They plan to get their hair, nails, and makeup done. I suspect that the goal is – in part – to convince the groom that the bride is worthy of him. The problem is that within two years of that marriage, the honeymoon is over. Neither partner is making much effort to be worthy of the other and both know just how flawed the other is, even if they don’t know how flawed they are.

          That’s not the way it should be, but it’s the way it is. Oddly, I’ve noticed the opposite response in myself. When I meet someone, I tend to give a freak show. I present information made to convince them I’m not what they want in a friend. It’s not a conscious thing. Often, I walk away from the introduction before I realize how pathetic, or peculiar, or otherwise unsuitable I made myself sound. The idea seems to be that if I scare them off immediately, it won’t hurt as much as it will if we become friends before they decide they want nothing to do with me.

As an example, in the job I left in 2015, I spent many years introducing myself to new employees as “The Wicked Witch of the West.” And I was quite difficult to get along with. Eventually, they stopped believing me. It was sad because I worked hard at that reputation. (I’m not saying this is a good behavior on my part, just that it is – or was - a behavior.)

Of course, God doesn’t fall for our acts – either our protestations that we are magnificent creatures, and He should be impressed and grateful that we’ve chosen Him, or that we are monsters or worms and He would do best to avoid choosing us because we are bound to be His greatest disappointment. He knows that the truth is that both these extremes are truer than we know.

The point is, however, that if we think we love someone and want them to love us back, we tend to be on our best behavior. Once the relationship is official, we tend to lose interest in playing that game. But it is after we are in a relationship that we can and should truly begin to develop those characteristics we want them to believe we have. It is then that we need to work hardest at being or becoming pure. It is then that we must develop our character to match the reality of our situation, and not give up because being what we had been pretending to be is hard. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more