Day 3057 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

John 5:44 NIV

In order to believe one must be able to think. Sadly, we outsource that kind of thing these days.

Anymore, most only worry about appeasing their followers instead of making sure they're following the only One who can lead us home. Every single day we wake up and sell ourselves to the lowest bidder, all because they pay us with an increased and therefore more pleasing rapidity which we’ve been convinced to believe proves our devotion to deception of enough worth to be acceptable in the eyes of those blinded by the sins we claim to want to leave behind.

The intense over-socialization of our society has caused us to forget the value of intimacy, of quality, of purity. We've lost sight of those priceless things behind eyes that see worth in fandom and followers. Everyone is in such a rush to build a successful online community of like-minded people that they've forgotten the necessity of ensuring that what they think, what they believe and what they say and do as a result of the two is leading them in the right direction.

I think it's safe to say that many don't even know where they're wanting to go, let alone how to get there.

No, instead all folks appear to be concerned about is rolling out this endless stream of falsehood and fallacy to keep the hungry eyes satisfied so that the likes and attention keeps coming in from those who are equally lost and enslaved to their digital identities. We're losing ourselves in hopes of being seen, all because we've been sold this idea that our worth is determined by how many people see us and agree with us and are willing to toss us a thumbs-up in order to validate our existence.

And so, so many people have become willfully caught up playing this game seeking some trophy they think the world has the authority to bestow. Repeat the lines. Crop away the imperfection. Prioritize putting on this picture perfect performance that pleases the proclivities of this persnickety populace so that your popularity encourages the crowd to give you your crown.

How did we get here? How did we arrive at this place where pleasing and appeasing the popular population is all that matters? When did we agree to let go of thinking beyond a screen and living like technology and the ease of virtual companionship were of equitable value when compared to the realness of true relationship? When did this world obtain the power to live our lives for us while we smile for the camera and make sure the photo looks right before we dare to share?

Everyone is so lost in seeking a furthered existence via social media and political alliance and community support that they don't know who they are. We've outsourced our identity to the wants and whims of a world which changes quicker than the ever-shifting hands on a clock face. Just have to have the approval, the acknowledgement, the acceptance. And we're seeing folks do whatever they can to get it because it's of such immediate reward that to go without it for a moment leaves one in utter fear of being forgotten.

And so we’ve settled for seeking gain in the form of worldly glory, and yet we claim to live for something. How can we live for something when we’re willing to do anything to get everything?

This world sells this lie that seeing is believing, because it's easier than actually believing. We can see our number of friends and followers either rise or fall. We can research our outreach to ensure that what we're doing and saying and sharing is garnering the attention and subsequent success we think we have to have to have a life of meaning and purpose. We can see an image of a perfect person living a perfect life built on a perfect faith because it all looks perfect in that one instance.

But beneath the filters and fakery lies the fact that seeing anymore is just as far from believing as up is from down.

How can we believe when we can't even think anymore? You see, in order to believe you have to be able to imagine, to dream, to conceptualize an idea that exists beyond the normal limits that you've lived within up until the time when you chose to try and believe in something new, something different, something bigger than ever before. We have to be able to think beyond the boxes of ourselves in order to believe in anything. So how can we believe in Christ, in faith, in truth when we've lost ourselves in this imaginary world filled with technology and digital input that does our thinking for us?

Because if we agree to let the world tell us how to do what they want us to do to become who they want us to become to become worthy of being welcomed, then we’ll have agreed to let them think for us. And if they think for us, we’ll never be able to believe for ourselves.

So you see, we've been suckered. We've been played. We've found ourselves on the not-surprising losing end of a game we didn't know was coming. We've not merely accepted this idea that we must be seen and heard and accepted by those around us in order to matter, but we've fully embraced it. We've embraced it so far that it's all we care about focusing on anymore. It's all about our presence, our power, our popularity, our platform.

And as those things continue to bolster this idea that we're living on these pedestals for all to see and judge and hopefully agree are worthy of whatever we think we need, we're only drifting further from reality. And therefore, further from faith.

Because faith is reality, but we don't know how to believe in it anymore.

All we know how to do is login and make sure what we did the day before was applauded by the audience we think we have. Indeed, life has become a process of going through the motions and repeating the necessary script and putting on the proper show in order to keep our digital glory rolling in. All because all we know is the agreed upon importance of worldly validation.

The irony in all this is that we're wearing ourselves out for something we already have.

We already have love, we have acceptance, we have open arms open wide waiting for us to run into them. We have a Savior who proved Himself entirely sufficient and entirely faithful to His desire to exemplify love and mercy and grace and healing and hope and everything else that everyone is looking for on a screen. We have the gift of the opportunity to be adopted into the family we left behind in search of an easier and more personally pleasing replacement.

We have a God who is asking us to let go of all that we cannot have nor hold so that we can have the promise of a home with Him in Heaven.

But we keep on accepting this world instead.

And as long as this world continues being seen as our home, this world will continue retaining the right to tell us how to do what we need to do to become who they want us to be. Thus the cycle becomes endless, and we just keep spiraling because we don't remember how to believe our way out of it.

No, we've become so desensitized to things like responsibility and individuality and the consequences of failing to walk by faith that we don't care to consider any of the above anymore. They have no meaning in a world that's already decided they're not needed in order for life to have meaning. But friends, when the building blocks of reality are considered expendable, what does that mean for things that exist beyond what we can see or feel or hear or touch?

If reality can become virtual, what's going to happen to our faith?

Well, sadly, we're already seeing what happens to faith when it's placed in the trust of other human beings so as to continue garnering the gain of having the ability to show you belong to someone or some group somewhere.

We've got denominations and disputations and deepening divisions forming lines that can only ever distract and detract from the true point and purpose of what Christ died for us to find. "I'm a follower of so-and-so." "I go to the biggest church in the world." "I would never be a such-and-such kind of believer because of this and this and what that one guy I used to work with told me once." "This translation is the only translation God meant for us to have, so the others are heretical."

It's the slipperiest of slippery slopes.

We've literally lost the simplicity of faith all because we don't understand anymore the simple workings of a true personal relationship. Faith in Christ demands a personal relationship with Christ. He cannot save us if we cannot seek Him. He cannot find us if we keep running around Him. He will not accept us if we never worry about knowing Him. It's a relationship, but not one that can be had virtually. He's not going to show up in your feed liking every picture or comment you share.

Because He's not limited to what the world has made of personal connections.

Friends, how can we believe if the world and the appeasement of it still matters to us at all? How can we seek His glory if we're more than happy to settle for the quicker payout of a few more followers? How can we praise Him with lips that speak the lies that keep the likes coming our way? How can we believe if we can't think beyond what the world's barricaded itself within?

Again, we've already got what everyone is looking for. We have the love, the validation, the acknowledgement. We have the cross and the proven love of the One who hung in our place. Nobody down here has done or will do anything anywhere close to what He already has. Maybe we should stop letting every other voice speak so much louder than His. Maybe we should log out and check in with Him. Maybe a comment section isn't where we'll find ourselves justified.

Maybe we'll only ever be found when we're found in Him. But to do that, we have to stop giving ourselves away to the lowest possible bidders.

This world is convinced that social glory is of passing equality to the glory that comes from God, only because this world has always denied Him. So while everyone runs along playing this experiment trying to prove themselves the winners who only won because they lost it all, pull out of the race and find a place to be alone with the only One who truly cares enough about you to offer you a share in His eternal glory.

Let the world have the world and start walking home.

Or better yet, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

If we truly wish to be God’s people, God’s children, we must stop seeking an audience with everyone that will never be Him. If we want to be found among the few who find themselves welcomed into the gates we have no right to enter, we must stop stealing back our soul from Him to sell it off to what the world wants to give us for it. If we want hope, if we want Heaven, if we want Him, we have to stop settling for everything else.

We are not of this world, but we’ve got some work to do in order to make that distinction far more distinguishable. Because as it sits, we’re a reflection of everything everyone has asked us to be. We’ve lived as puppets on a string for long enough. Time to cut loose and walk on, because if we don’t, this world will keep us lulled into submission just long enough to miss the only ride out of here.

Friends, I know it seems like this world has the power to either give or take away. And in some ways it does. In fact, the Bible tells us that it will only get worse in that regard. Days are coming wherein if you don’t look a certain way, do a certain thing, say a specific line, wear a given number (think you catch my drift), you will not be welcome. You won’t be able to buy or sell. You won’t be allowed to join in all the reindeer games because you shine too bright and upset the weakened resolve of those who welcomed the weakness.

Bring it. That can be our only mindset in this life because this life isn’t the one we’re planning on having forever. No, we’ve got another one, another place, another home toward which we’re racing. And if that’s truly the case, if our faith is of such importance to us that we’re longing to be where He is, then we can’t keep worrying about the losses we suffer along the way. We should welcome them.

Lose the world. Lose the acceptance. Lose this idea that you need the world to give you purpose. We do not. We already have one. Do not settle again for seeking the glory that comes from man because the glory that comes from man will only keep us from seeking and serving the Son of Man. God’s welcome is the only one we need worry about. And if the world welcomes us, likes us, loves us, then we should be very afraid.

Because they didn’t like Jesus. Hated Him. Killed Him in fact! Why should we want them to like us, let alone surrender our souls to doing whatever it takes to ensure they do?

#LeaveNoSoulUntold