YOU SAY,
‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.
AND DO NOT KNOW
that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked
I counsel you to
… anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
(Revelation 3: 17, 18)
“You Do Not Know”
Not knowing—
lack of awareness,
is the basic problem.
“Our conscious intentions are crossed by relatively unknown
opponents in the unconscious”. “[The] “infirmities [Romans 8: 26
talks about] are qualities which predispose us to errors without
conscious choice on our part”.
“Sin so easily besets us.”
(Hebrews 12: 1)
“The heart is deceptive above everything.”
(Jeremiah 17: 9)
“Confusion of heart” (Deuteronomy 28: 28) is a condition of all
exiles (Genesis 3: 24). It requires “vigilance” (1 Peter 5: 8) and being
“wise as serpents” (Matthew 10: 16) even in regard to dangers
within. All must ask:
“Search me … know my heart.”
(Psalms 139: 23)
because
“the condition which gives birth to all delusion is the minds’ desire
to escape truth”.
***
Close to the halfway point between the yearly world remembrances
of Jesus’s birth and of his death, I take the opportunity for a call to
greater awareness.
It is lack of awareness that led to the killing of Jesus.
They “did not see”, “they did not know.” They refused to see. All the
while letting projection express itself in violence and murder.
To their detriment. To atrocious suffering,
and the tragic loss of life…
Strangely enough, “evil” people are often destructive because they
are attempting to destroy evil. The problem is that they misplace the
locus of the evil. Instead of [scapegoating and] destroying others,
they should be destroying the sickness within themselves.
Others held off projections leading to suffering and murder. They
knew and saw who they were and who He was
(“Was blind but now I see”).
***
The work towards greater awareness can often be difficult:
“[There is] too little disposition to see “the problem” in here and
not out there”.
“If only it were so simple!” exclaimed Solzhenitzyn in the freezing
winter of Siberian labor camps. “If only there were evil people
somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary
only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.
But the line dividing good and evil
cuts through the heart of every human being.
And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
Lack of awareness is root to every ill and a willingness to become
aware is a basis for all good. Awareness is the first step (of 12-step
programs) or competency in any conversion, change of mind (Gr.
metanoia) or return (Heb. t’shuva). May the counsel to discretion,
patience and greater self-awareness be heeded,
To our benefit,
To Blessing,
And to Life!
With love,
Pastor Sam
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