Point Guard

“It’s not direction I need, its character.” Here lies the essence of the Serenity Prayer. Peace, courage and wisdom – all being manifestations of faith (for me, anyway) – create the rowboat in which I sit. Then, I don’t sink in the waves. The direction of my life, of course, is determined by the past; specifically, by what YHVH has done in the past. What He has done, however, still does not do me any good if I am not in the boat. The very ability to change (move in a direction at all) is the ability to choose. Sin shackles me and freezes me and literally glues me to the past: it gets me wet (adheres me to reality), instead of me being able to stay on top of that reality (see, we even know the language!). Righteousness is a different response to the past. Righteousness also uses the past to determine the future, of course. Sin places me in a position that allows the past to use me; to shove me around or to shackle me and so keep me from my present and my future. The devil cannot invent anything; he just perverts, steals and destroys. He still has to work with all the same stuff that YHVH uses; so, with sin, it is still all about the past when it comes to the present and future. Sin also ties us to the past as the determiner of the present and future; that is nothing new. What is new is that it gives us a different relationship with that past. When we lack faith, which is that shot of NO (nitric oxide) in our starter that propels us forward out of that past, we fill that vacuum with sin, which, based on doubt and unbelief (which all sin is), is defined by incorrect responses to that past. It has been suspected, and not by just me, but plenty of others before me, that perhaps the #1 thing that ties us to the past (in the place where faith should have been, of course) is self pity. I think self pity must be the devil’s substitute for self love, as it appears to the flesh to be interchangeable with it. Self pity has been called the Superglue from hell that binds us to the past; specifically OUR past, of course, in that myopic kingdom of Self. Righteousness, of course, is all about YHVH’s past; specifically His past with us. Different focus!

So let’s go over what sin gives us as our ‘direction’. For example, self pity does not let me move forward AT ALL. When self pity comes up, I literally go down in my present; forget my future, for self pity tells me I don’t have any, and, as I take self pity as the writer of my Scripture of Self (self love), I believe it (of course!) and, what I believe, I act on. This right here is why it is important to pay attention to what I believe, for my thoughts and actions are all governed by what I believe, and, no, I am not talking about creed and doctrine, although you can add them to the list: I am talking specifically about the EXPERIENCE of the past, for it is our experience of the past that shapes our beliefs. Every experience either produces a new belief (i.e. that thing over there is HOT! Don’t touch it again!), confirms an prior belief (see, I THOUGHT that thing was a stove!), or alters a prior belief (I thought stoves were only to be found in kitchens, but now I know that I can find them in basements, also (or whatever)). We go through our entire day doing this. Its how we are wired. The devil just hijacks this process. His entire goal is to steal our faith in our future, for it is faith that moves us out of our past (dead things (or, works), where no life is to be found) and into our present (the only place where life is to be found). Only faith can deliver me from death (my past) into life (my present) and keep me there (which encompasses all of my future, as well), so sin is all about separating me from faith, for it is faith that keeps me on top of reality (the water: hello, Peter!), and in correct relationship with that reality.

Reality should not be any impediment to choice, for reality is merely the sand in my box and also the tools in my toolbox with which to mold that sand. I am made in the image of my Creator, and He created reality to be What I Make Of It. (This is what a steward of reality must have to be able to be that steward.) Love is what keeps me free to make of reality anything I choose. Sin is what starts to separate me and reality from relating correctly with each other. Self pity is a prime example of something that removes me from the present altogether, as self pity is all about the past. When I am wallowing in it, I am relating incorrectly to my reality. Self pity literally creates an altered state of reality for me. Like any drug, I get high on it: it is addictive in the very highest degree. As a form of pain, I can form a relationship with it that requires me to seek a little more of it each time to assuage that pain. I am convinced that pain is the highest form of addiction we know. Pain, which is what we were designed to want to avoid, can snare us in a cycle of repeated behavior that, in fact, keeps us in more, and ever more. pain (there’s your proof). Thus is the power of sin (nasty stuff!). But, that is another subject!