Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Paying Attention

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

We thank you, O God!  We give thanks because you are near.  People everywhere tell of your wonderful deeds.  God says, “At the time I have planned, I will bring justice against the wicked.  When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil, I am the one who keeps its foundations firm. Interlude

“I warned the proud, ‘Stop your boasting!’  I told the wicked, ‘Don’t raise your fists!  Don’t raise your fists in defiance at the heavens or speak with such arrogance.’”  For no one on earth—from east or west, or even from the wilderness—should raise a defiant fist.  It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall.  For the Lord holds a cup in his hand that is full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours out the wine in judgment, and all the wicked must drink it, draining it to the dregs.  But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.  For God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly.”  Psalm 75:1-10(NLT)

Our church gave out compasses to the children several weeks ago.  It was a reminder to always seek true North, an allusion to being a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.  True North leads you in ways of integrity, honesty, and sincerely following God’s ways.  I love that analogy of the life of Christ being our compass for a life that honors the Father.  Now, keeping that thought about True North, I don’t know anything about Jarod Kintz, but his quote about compasses caught my attention.  He said:
If I were a magician, I’d hand out broken compasses. It’s all about misdirection.[2]
If you’ve ever seen a magic trick you understand a magician’s showmanship is all about getting your eyes to look at what he wants you to see, not what he’s hiding in the other hand.  While he’s got your attention with his right hand pointing to his pretty assistant in the skimpy costume, his left hand is getting ready to pick your pocket while you applaud his skillful pulling the rabbit out of the hat.
Lucifer was the slickest magician to ever hit the scene; he has always used deception to ply his trade.  Just ask Eve!  
And so, to the point about paying attention and the Psalmist’s warning of God’s coming judgment on the wicked.  The chief wickedness in the universe is to ignore our Creator and His purposes.  We were created for fellowship with God; we were not put here to be alone.
Yet, the chief deceiver has us moving in that direction.  It is subtle, this misdirection from a perfect fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden to current culture where anything goes, because, in the befuddled thinking of the 21st century, there is no such thing as sin, or sinners.  There is no such thing as absolute truth or morality…there is only personal fulfillment and what I want to consider as truth.  Your truth is ok for you, but don’t force it down my throat.
It is a strange choice to ignore truth to try to justify what you want to believe is truth.  Yet that is done every day by people who want to ignore God, or those who want to form God into something that fits their idea of a perfect god for them.  Consider the absurdity of saying that there is NO ABSOLUTE TRUTH; absolutely?  If you want to believe that solving the math problem of adding two plus two, and having 9 as a better answer than 4 because you like 9 better than 4 … well, in our current culture your answer is just as valid as Albert Einstein, even if it won’t work in calculating how to bring the Shuttle back down from space.
In deceiving Eve, the serpent’s misdirection was to pump up Eve’s right to make up her own mind about taking the fruit.  She took the bait along with her husband, flying in the face of God’s absolute, revealed, propositional truth, and we have been doing, and regretting the same for every generation since!
For You Today
It’s smart to pay attention to God’s truth, revealed in His actions, His prophets, His Word, and His Son, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  When the world says believe what you want, and what you think is right, remember the magician…and trust God!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of DailyComic.com

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