Please, no more pretending
"As long as we ourselves are real, as long as we are truly ourselves, God can be present and can do something with us. But the moment we try to be what we are not, there is nothing left to say or have; we become a fictitious personality, an unreal presence and this unreal presence cannot be approached by God."
-Anthony Bloom
in regards to the laws of divorce:
"Too many of you are using that as a cover for selfishness and whim, pretending to be righteous just becasuse youare "legal". Please, no more pretending...you can't use legal cover to mask a moral failure". -Matt. 5
But does this not apply to many areas of my life? I try to repaint my selfishness and whim to look like righteousness. I talk myself into the fact that I did the "right thing" when in fact it only looked like the right thing and it just covered my self-centeredness.
"Please, no more pretending."
How often do I pretend to be more or something that I am not? God- True Reality - cannot engage my unreal, fictitous person. No wonder He is 'absent' so many hours of my day. He is Real and dwells in the realm of truth and reality with no pretending. I dwell in the land of mirage, facade, and 'dress-up' stories.
"Please, no more pretending."
2 Comments:
I like the word "pretending." For some reason, it is much more painful than "hypocrite," which is now such a "church word" and has been shown to apply to all of us all the time so as to loose its power. Pretending is so . . . juvenile. Not just living incorrectly, but concurrently taking a mental state that I am supposed to have left behind. It reminds me of how awkward and uncomfortable it is when that guy on Madd TV plays an infant-like adult child. It makes me "itchy" (to quote one of your European friends).
But I must confess, I don't like the Bloom quote. To me centered. To inconsistent with the Human Story. We all are never ourselves. God used Moses during a major not-real time in his life (i.e. the initial exodus). Same thing with Joseph and/or his brothes. Personally, I think it's too sensational and thereby ruins the point it is trying to make. It's pretending to be stronger than it really is. I'm funny.
7:10 AM
Hey Tara. I have pictures to email you, but I lost all of my email addresses. Can you send me at email, so I can have your address and send these totally cute pictures? smartel@redoption.com
Thanks!
6:25 AM
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