The Weight of Who You Are
Do people know who you really are?
Are you afraid to show them?
Are you afraid to be real and vulnerable?
Are you posing for protection?
I remember going to a high school reunion a few years ago and meeting some buddies who had made it big — multi millionaires, married to beautiful, young women, driving fast cars and living in big houses on the beach, prestige and big titles like CEO and President. They were Legends in their own Minds! Although we were close in high school, they were very different now and I did not recognize them and they chose not to really acknowledge me. I remember thinking what money can do to a man and how we all live for this temporary pleasure of wealth and self-importance and how phony it all was!!
What is the “World” mentioned in the Bible? Eldredge says
“the World is not a place or set of behaviors like drinking or dancing or going to bars, etc.—it is any system built by our collective sin, all our false selves coming together to reward and destroy each other. Take all those posers out there, put them together in an office or club or a church and want you get is what the Scriptures mean by the World.”
He goes on to say:
”the World is carnival of counterfeits, counterfeit battles, counterfeit adventures, counterfeit beauties. Men should think of it as a corruption of their strength. Battle your way to the top, says the World, and you are a Man (or The Man). Why is it then that the men who get there are the most prideful, fearful, frightened, most emptiest posers around? They are mercenaries battling to build their own kingdoms. There is nothing transcendent about their own lives.”
And the same holds true for adventure addicts — after the last adventure and the thrill is gone, it is still just a hobby. And we are all looking for that Golden-haired woman, the counterfeit beauty. We are told to go for her.
Eldredge says again:
PUT THE BOOK DOWN…….AND CONSIDER WHAT YOU WOULD THINK OF YOURSELF IF TOMORROW, YOU LOST EVERYTHING THAT THE WORLD HAS REWARDED YOU FOR!!!
Where are you deriving your sense of strength and power from? Ask yourself this question often.
I am struggling with that now. I have had several chances in my live over the years to become very wealthy and God removed the opportunity……..for my own good. He knew that I could not handle it, that I would spend the wealth on me and prefer myself to others and my wife…..live for myself and not Him……for God’s sake, I have enough problem with that now in my present state.
Eldridge says:
”Don’t be a self-promoter, choose the path of humility, climb down the ladder……invite the mail clerk home for dinner.”
I fly a lot and it is often times a miserable experience. People are tired and miserable and grumpy. I try to find people doing something right and tell them about it, .like the flight attendant who smiles at me after a 12 hour day or the janitor scrubbing the toilet at the airport, giving it everything he’s got……to the glory of God.
