Day 4151 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Isaiah 59:15 NIV

accepts the accusations

Loner. Loser. Freak. Weirdo. Prude. Patsy. Fool. Failure. Sinner. Sucker. Moron. Idiot. Hypocrite. Weakling. Yes, whatever this world may want to call us, we’ll take it. In fact, all of these monikers are to us badges of honor that we seek actively to win. Why? Because to be liked by the world is to be loved by those who hate God. And to hate God is to actively work against life itself. And to so reject the gift of life is as dumb a path in which to ever so delight as so many around so clearly do both day and night.

Indeed, we walk through a world at war in words, wielding petty judgements and chosen gullibility as if they’re actual abilities that may actually cause someone to literally give up everything they hope for and all they wish to be all for the prize that is personal glory as is given us by those who, yes, look like us but who, no, live not like us nor then we like they as, again, to be like they is to be against Him.

And again, to live this life against He who is the Life who earned that title by laying His body on the line so as to save you from yours and me from mine, that is the dumbest thing that we can do within a lifetime.

Why?

Because He’s coming back.

And too it’s because of that fact that He last left us with that promises us that when He does it is not to save sinners from their sins. He returns not to rewalk that path. No, this next time, the last time, He comes to remove His bride from this life so that those who are left can go ahead and receive the fullness of what they’ve all lived boldly, boastfully, brazenly wanting. Yes. When He comes back it will be with one hand full of eternal life to be given unto those who sought not such reward within this world so wrong and wicked and yet too the other holding the horror that is unending death to be delivered to those who fought against the chance be considered a believer.

Sadly mostly because many here don’t want to look weird to those who find it not strange to reject the gift of salvation and the promise of eternal life instead of settling for a share of eternal damnation and never once even a drop of peace within the place that their wants and His wrath will finally meet face-to-face.

Yes, this world has convinced all of us at times to live our lives worried so vastly about what people thought of us that the majority of all we said, did, believed, became was nothing more than whatever someone else wanted us to say, to do, to buy and become. We have all lived our lives looking to please the eyes, ears, hearts, minds of what is a mankind so fallen and foolish as to still, even after all this time and watching this world devolve into literally applauding crime, reject the Savior and mock those who seek for the salvation won within the same.

And why do they do it?

Why did we do it?

Because yeah, while sticks and stones could obviously break our bones and sure, that would hurt, the hurt we’ve agreed to feel within words has rendered us amazingly able to refuse to not let loose whatever grip we’ve ever had on anything good. Rather we will walk away from anything if the doing so wins us the opportunity to avoid the judgements and ridicule and, yes, even rejection of those around us. And that’s because we’re all a communal people. We understand the importance of community. We appreciate the opportunity to have those around us who love us and help us and fill in the holes that we have within us and our abilities.

That’s why we’re all at least slightly different to begin with.

It’s because we’re meant to work together, to help one another, to love one another so much that we offer unto others whatever there is of us that could be of use or benefit to them. For example I clearly enjoy writing, and that pretty much only about the Bible and all the various thoughts it has me always thinking and the many changes it’s had/has me making. And I do this in the hope that it helps someone, literally pray that every time I go to post one of these. That it honors God and helps whoever may need it, see it, read it and walk away bettered because of it.

Does it?

I have no idea.

But it’s something that I can do, I think fairly well, and that I too hope might help someone somehow.

That said, while writing is at least a self-perceived strength of mine, calculating rocket telemetry or understanding the complex anatomy of the human heart is well beyond me. And so, if it should become necessary, I would need someone with that specialty to help me should I ever desire to venture into space (which I won’t) or need a bit of help perhaps staying alive (which I did just a few years ago).

My point is that all of us are good at something but then struggle with many other things. As it sits I’m good at making a lawn look nice but presumptively really bad at taming cobras. Some dude who might excel at taming cobras may have no idea which direction to trim along the edges of a flowerbed so as to keep the grass clippings from creating a mess and making said flowerbeds look horrible.

But there could, at least theoretically, come a time in which I would need the cobra taming guy’s skills and he might need mine.

And yet we’ve instead chosen to expect this version of life in which we all look, sound, seem and even live alike. As if there’s something to be proven better about a world in which we’re all exactly the same. As if we could ever stand to learn anything ever again or experience then the gift of personal growth if instead we’d all already come to know all there was to know.

And indeed, we’ve got plenty of those down here too.

Those who know everything, namely everything right that we’re always supposed to do and how to ‘keep us in line’ so that we do live these lives according to their version of right. But you see friends, that’s precisely the problem. It’s that, while we live in a world that’s falling deeper in love by the day with this whole idea of our each living our own truth, there’s really only one truth and, well, none of us are really doing that great of a job at living according to it.

Especially when His and ours don’t seem to fit.

In fact, that they don’t fit is basically the reason why we threw that fit that one time and called upon our leaders to find Him guilty of the crime of, let me check my notes, helping and healing and setting captives free but doing so with the audacity to say some stuff that kind of sounded like blaspheme to a people who were literally waiting for a Savior to come but who couldn’t recognize that He’d come because they thought He would show up all glowing and stuff.

And instead Jesus came to us in a manger, lived most of His time here as a stranger walking always in the danger of doing again something that someone didn’t like for what remain billions of reasons at this point, mostly because almost all of what He says points out our failures and flaws and foolishness.

And, well, to a people who love still partaking of the Pharisee’s leaven, we remain too then a people of such pride that we have to flip that around and consider Christ and His followers to be the failures who have all the flaws such as foolishness.

Yes, we’ve been called and considered a great number of things over the centuries. Started off today’s post with a few, and sure, there are plenty of others too but they tend to get kind of offensive even and so we’ll just stick with that list for now as, well, I think it gets the basic point across.

And that is that this world thinks that we’re the ones who are lost simply because we’re not looking for the same things they’re finding and feeling in those same places as they’ve basically settled for assuming they have and are. No, we’re the ones who are looking for something more than all the lies and lust and lunacy alive and allowed to thrive in this world. We’re on the hunt for something a little more hopeful than hatred and heartbreak. We want something better than blaspheme and disbelief.

Indeed, we’re the freaks who actually do believe in not only something better but in fact everything so very bettered that none of it can fit down here.

Yeah, we’ve literally turned our eyes to the horizon of this life and wait in shaky expectation for our Savior to part those clouds and finally lead us home to Heaven.

Does that make us fools? Sure, guess so.

But why?

Because it’s not the normal way of life as is being lived by those who continue to love this idea that this is their life and that within it they can and thus should live according to their truth which, not ironic at all mind you, always finds them doing right and everyone else doing anything else only wrong. Problem then becomes that that or those whom we determine to be wrong are too easily seen as being a potential danger to our always being right and, well, we can’t afford that risk in our way of life because I think we all know deep down how foolish and flimsy it is to think we actually know what we’re doing, let alone that we’re doing everything right.

And so, rather than humbly reconsidering ourselves and our chosen existence, no, no instead we resort to childish playground nonsense in which we call names, poke fun, make jokes in the hopes of the mental and emotional torment inspiring those who are different to just give up and fall in line in what are lives lived following behind we who want to be the leader.

Even if it is of only a bunch of former losers who finally came to their senses and started living like us.

All because, again, we’re always the ones who have it all figured out.

And thus anyone who doesn’t is a loser, a freak, a weirdo who doesn’t know how to live their best life.

And here we find yet another lie that’s been concocted by a fallen mankind to try and force folks to fall in line and live this apparently ‘normal’ way of life. And indeed, this one works arguably as well as calling us names and belittling our faith. And that’s because, while avoiding pain and persecution are both things that our flesh has no problems with as neither are ever seen as much fun, having fun is the carrot on the other end of that stick that this world’s wickedness continues to beat us with.

Indeed, on one end of the world’s way you have the wickedness which makes fun of us for not partaking within all the fun they’re having. And on the other you have this prize held within the life that is fun, does feel good, does bring us friendships and fortunes and fame. And so we have this way that does everything it can to either inspire or impel us to do as the masses have decided to, all so that nobody has to risk seeing the sheer level of stupidity found in turning down salvation and thus too away from Heaven.

No, if we can convince enough people that Heaven is a place on earth and that hell is held within the hands of those who mind not beating us into believing that it is, then we all win.

What?

Well, pretty much everything we’ve all come to want. Within going along with the world, either willingly or begrudgingly, we’ll find acceptance, a sense of belonging, a feeling of love flowing from those who look with approval on us and everything we do. Yes, we will find ourselves and our lives being considered validated, valued, justified.

And, well, those are all things that we all want because they help to fill the holes and fears we all hold inside.

But friends, the problem is that we’re filling our emptiness with that which is empty. We’re seeking our acceptance amongst a humanity that accepts evil. We’re looking for love within the eyes and lives of those who live obviously against the Christ. We gain our entertainment from those who follow nothing of Scripture’s commands. We welcome glory from those who want only the vain version themselves.

Yes, we love the praise that comes from people more than that which comes from God because it also seems vastly easier to please people than to please God.

And so most continue only to fall away from ever even trying to honor Him in what we all know have been lives so dishonorable to both Him and even ourselves that there’s no way He would want anything to do with us. And so we ourselves wrestle all the time with this idea in mind that we’re not worthy, not welcome, not wanted.

And yet we live in a world that will tell us endlessly otherwise just so long as we agree to fall in line and live our lives following behind those who reward us with kindness for doing as they want us to do, being who they want us to be, and yet who beat those, berate those, belittle those who don’t so bend and cower before their pride’s pretend version of power.

And that’s why they hate us so much!

It’s because, thanks to Christ, we’ve come to realize that pride has no power but that to destroy. That ego gets us nowhere we want to go again. That vanity is an insanity that sells this idea of our creating our own Heaven whilst living in lives that are literally going to hell in a world clearly walking the same path. Yeah, we’ve finally come to see our worth and that it has nothing to do with what we want nor what we’ve done nor then whatever another may want us to do or think of what we now live to.

Because the flesh is fallen and so, having been helped to see our own flaws and failures alongside His faithful forgiveness, there is now nothing this world can give us nor take away from us.

Indeed, why worry over those who can kill the body when He’s saved our souls?

Friends, the very worst that this world can do is but hasten our hope of going home!

And to that I say please!

Please hate me. Please exclude me. Please stop asking me to care about the things this world cares about. Please stop inviting me to go along with and endlessly partake in the things that I’ve already gone along with and partaken of as I now know them as things I want nothing to do with as from the same He’s saved me son!

Yes, leave me alone. Call me a loser. Find me a freak. Think of me as Bible-thumping moronic bigot who wouldn’t know anything of the best life having given mine to following along only behind what is a Way so very narrow that I agree that, no, I can’t do this well.

Let me live my life agreeing with Him that I suck at living this life!

And truly, everyone feel absolutely free to call me whatever name you want, poke at me as much fun as you might, spend every second of your time trying always to find some way to convince me to change my mind and leave my every hope behind.

You will not win!

And that’s why this world hates us!

It’s because they cannot beat us who are already broken. They can’t take from us anything as we’ve rather already given it all away. They cannot harm us as we’ve known that life in which we hated ourselves so very much that we literally walked the wide road to hell with smiles on our faces and holes in our hearts.

No, this world cannot destroy us as we’ve already known what it’s like to fall apart thanks to our having made friends with both sin and sinners too. Doing always only everything that everyone else wanted us to do so that we could avoid their hatred, their judgement, their rejection.

REJECT ME!

Hate me.

Kill me!

I don’t care as I don’t belong here as I have no reward here. All I have here is but however much time He has already determined I do in what is a life in which I now live to lose everything I possibly can so that I am found one day standing on the shore with an open heart and open hands ready to prove I’ve tried my very best to squeeze through the eye of that needle.

There is nothing you can take from me that I’ve not already made my peace with giving away.

For once a man finds his peace with losing everything, even being hated by everyone loses its meaning as he’s not even looking to be liked anymore.

And I don’t want to be liked, to be loved, to be welcomed or wanted by or in what is a world that likes the darkness and loves sin and welcomes everyone to be their friends so long as they like and love the same all while clearly then choosing only to hate He who gave Himself for me to save me from my sins and give unto me the promise of eternal life.

Seriously, if you are among the many who willfully continue to reject Christ and refuse God then we have nothing to work out. If you doubt in the gift of salvation and the then necessity of repentance, we’ve nothing in common. Because He and they are all that matter to me.

And nobody and nothing can take them away!

And in this then I have nothing left to lose.

All because I know the Truth and He has indeed set me free from that version of life lived in captivity to an enslaving society that only expects me to fall in line and do as I’m told.

Been there, done that, ain’t going back.

Call me whatever you want. Do to me whatever you like. I just know that this life is but mine to lay down and lose.

And thus even to die is gain.

So take your names and kick rocks as they just won’t work on me other than just to continue to convince me that I’m doing something right simply because this world thinks I’m wrong.

Friends, there could not be a better validation that we’re perhaps walking toward Heaven than our walking so far away from the world that we’re hated more and more by the same. After all, He was hated before we were and, well, since He’s already home I’d say that being hated by the world is a pretty good sign to mark the narrow path.

So again world, please hate me!

#LeaveNoSoulUntold