I’ve been waiting for God to prompt me to give me a blog topic and He revealed to me His topic through this image (that many of you will recognize).
It’s called the Müller-Lyer illusion. To quote Daniel Kahneman, “This picture is unremarkable: two horizontal lines of different lengths… The bottom line is obviously longer than the one above it. That is what we all see…”
Seeing this image again, I immediately knew those two lines were equal. I had learned it a long time ago. In the same way, when I first arrived to Hawaii in 2012, I knew that my lifestyle that first year was the same as a lifestyle of sin. I had learned the proper way to live in Sunday School, youth group, and Mountain View Church in Tennessee. Still, I fell prey to Satan’s illusion. I told myself, “This isn’t that bad! I’m not the same as those other REALLY bad people.” But it was sin. And by God’s measuring stick, my life and everyone else’s life of sin is the same.
The fact is that I am a fallen human being. And just as my body tells me that the top line is shorter than the bottom line (no matter how much I tell my eyes otherwise), so my flesh tells me that the world’s illusions are fun, alluring, and good, even when I know the world is lying. Given this predicament, I (and the rest of the world) was in desperate need of a moral measuring stick.
Fortunately, I have a kind father who wants to me to grow in His ways and desperately pursued my heart – now, leading me to the World Race 10/40 Expedition.
Although He’s had to give me a few hard knocks (he definitely disciplines his children!), the Father has revealed His ways to me the past 2 years through mentors, my church Ohana (John Roberts, Vern, Craig, Jameson, and Sam), prayer, and the Bible. Thanks to these brothers and sister, I’ve learned to better understand Satan’s lies that enslaved me to my fleshly desires, I’ve embraced God’s truths over my life, and I’ve learned to mistrust my impressions and listen for His voice. And you can too.
If you are struggling with mistrusting yourself and your impressions, I encourage you to try three things:
- Get an accountability group! As Gary Black says, “Limp through it together mate!”
- Make time for God to use His measuring stick to reveal your fleshly nature, short comings, and areas to grow (Bible and Listening Prayer time).
- “Reverse the Flow” – begin to allow the Spirit, rather than the flesh, to influence your soul and actions each day.
Wherever you are on this journey called life, you have not fallen too far. You are not such a shadow of yourself that you cannot return to the Father. He is looking for you and desperately wants to run and embrace you. Because when you choose Jesus, you choose the Father and the only thing that meet God’s measure – perfection!
