So as the second post of what is my triple-threat posting for today, I am going to say something we often don’t often hear, that may sound foolish to some but I honestly believe in my heart that this is write and that in this particular area of how we do life, we can only win the battle by disarming.
Don’t we wrestle against flesh and blood you ask? Must not we put on the full armour of God to wrestle? Yes, that is true and I do not deny this, but as much as we put on the armour of God, there are several things that we are instructed to put-off, and in particular I am going to be talking about human relations today.
We approach each other a lot of the time with fear; wearing shields of mistrust and carrying swords of disinterest. We go around in shoes of prejudice and our breasts are clad with a breastplate of self-righteousness and haughtiness. We go around certain that we are supreme, and that our points of view are right and irrefutable even when we do not make sense and we treat getting close to people around us as a porcupine dance; an unwelcome festival of a thorns we would rather live without as we nestle in cocoons of disinterest from the rest of the world.
We make it our quest to acquire the nicest “stuff,” as told to us by marketers; the latest luxury smartphone, the most comfortable car, the best house on the street all as the stuff that collectively is supposed to make life better has led to a generation with the saddest, the most enslaved and disconnected relationships of all time. And most unfortunate in this has been the distance created between modern day families who often at times only get to meet at weddings and funerals. We need to take of the lens of prejudice and behold each and every one as a creation of God, with a purpose in God whether or not they live it out. We need to be unafraid of conversation and vulnerability and put away the protective cloaks we have made of our smartphones and tablets.
Seated next to a stranger, in a bus, at times all you need to do is say hello; with that relative, (and by the way we need to scrap the whole extended family=not really family, not really strangers type of living, it is rubbish!!!!pick a side you all!!!) you haven’t spoken to in a while, just pick up the telephone and to the chords that were once strong apply a balm of healing. We need to disarm from the fear that holds us back from building up communities that fellowship with one another instead of having this system of life where neighbourhoods are really nothing more than a collection of houses next to each other whose owners do not even know each other. We seriously need to rid ourselves of the mentality that the next person there is my enemy, that the most important thing in life is money and me and my own little cluster because the honest truth is so much more.
And if for a moment you are thinking what about thieves? Human trafiickers? Paedophiles? I am not denying their existence, but my friend you have a Father in heaven who is more powerful than anything there ever was or will be. What are you going to trust in more? The devil’s ability to get to you? Or your heavenly Father’s ability to protect and save you?
Selah. I hope you think about these things.