Breaking Ties with Delusions
"We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles." Acts 13:46
On this Break the Ties Tuesday, we are talking about "Delusions". A delusions is a belief someone holds that is not related or contradictory to reality. In its most extreme cases, it is characteristic of Schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s. For many of us, it is the misinterpretation of an event that happened and we hold it to be how we understand it. I can think of many times when I have had beliefs that were part of my misinterpretation of experiences with other people. On days when I wear my "sensitive shirt" I can recall taking a false interpretation of people's words mixed with their body language and write a whole internal dialogue about them. I would compose facts based on my false experience and have a narrative constructed that this person was now bound to walk into whenever they came around. How unfair, ridiculous, and how common!
I wonder how many delusions we all live under that stem from the state of our minds and souls to interpret the information and experiences we encounter day to day? Do we live in a state of paranoia, fear, anxiety? Are we suspicious and ready to reject the good moments as we are calibrated to not consider ourselves or others worthy of goodness and connection?
In the book of Acts, the Jewish leaders became jealous of Paul and Barnabas as they presented the gospel in the city. The second time they taught more about Jesus, almost the whole city showed up. This produced cause for the leaders to incite contradictions and abuse on Paul. Pauls response was to cite the prophet Isiah (Isiah 49:6) to reveal to them that salvation was being extended to the whole earth as they rejected the truth and sought to bring themselves and others into a delusion because of their jealousy.
How common it is that our own insecurities and fragile states of mind have us bring a contradiction to Gods truth. That we often are quick to spin a view of ourselves, others, and outcomes that have no basis in reality except that we have a lens the produces such constructions. The Jewish leaders in these verses missed the truth of the gospel, and we many times miss the same truth to pierce our own delusions that we stand in because of our own insecurities and envy.
"Don't miss what freedoms there are when we don't spin so much mental, emotional, and spiritual efforts in the fabrication of falsehood."
Today can be a day where we break ties with our delusions. Where we understand that perhaps we have misinterpreted an event, a circumstance, or a person because of what we have imposed on them. This is a very humbling and emptying action to take on. To dare to risk that perhaps we are missing or assuming something. This brings us to a place of vulnerability and perhaps softness in our hearts that we are preventing from taking place. Isn't it worth opening ourselves up to receive the truth and be in a place of self honesty than the work it takes to maintain our delusions?
If we could only discover the truth that keeping our delusions is a practice that exhausts us and keeps us preoccupied with the shallowness of the lie instead of stepping into the depths of the truth. I encourage you to not reject the words of God as discovered in Scripture and revealed in prayer. Don't miss what freedoms there are when we don't spin so much mental, emotional, and spiritual efforts in the fabrication of falsehood. I pray we are that brave to step into the light and with sober mind and clear eyes, see the truth of our days and the opportunity to live in the imperfect reality laced with God's grace.
Keep Looking Up!
