Untwisting ...
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| Roman Pantheon, now the Basilica di Santa Maria ad Martyres |
This image of the Pantheon is a great reminder to me on the topic and calling of Untwisting. You see, for years the Pantheon was a pagan temple. Yet in 609 A.D. it was converted to a church, and is known today as the Basilica di Santa Maria ad Martyres (Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs).
While we can debate on specifics - something that was once used against God and promoted idolatry, is now a symbol of God ... a symbol that stands to almost speak victory in reclaiming something good from something that was evil.
God made good things
... even in His story of creation we see over and over again that "it was good".
However not far after that, things changed, and man twisted what was good into something less than ... and sometimes things truly evil. However as Christians I think it is our calling to untwist these things in our minds, and see the good, the message, the warning, and possibly even reclaim territory for God.
I think that is what you see often in my writings and reflections; an application of His Word in the everyday circumstances of life. These circumstances may not be good in and of themselves, but they may reveal something, tell a story, or share a lesson for us today ...
Isn't that what we all should do? Seek God in all we do, see, and hear?
So a few days ago I was listening to my son tell me a story about his gaming adventures. He recently pre-ordered a game I saw him playing (a demo of) a few days earlier. What surprised me was that this game was something he was struggling to do well in. Often losing, trying to figure out how to use controls or use strategy against other players ... so why buy the game? Well, what I didn't know is that he eventually started winning, and winning a lot ...
This started a conversation about how I struggle to play against some players online, as they are so much more advanced, and they just continue to beat me until I give up and get frustrated. That's why I usually enjoy the solo games where I can just play against the computer. I can even set difficulty levels! He used this example to tell me that is precisely why he plays against real players:
"I don't want to go up against AI (artificial intelligence / computer) players, I want to go up against real people, get beat up, destroyed, and then learn from them. Learn how to play better, learn different strategies, learn what works. Now that game that I was losing, I'm winning tournaments, and winning a lot!"
Do you see where I'm about to go here?!
How often do we take the easy strategy to our Christian life? The safe way?
We try to adjust the difficulty level on our game of life so that we can be as comfortable as we possibly can, while maintaining an image of a kingdom builder.
Sure we know trials come - but when we are not under fire, are we just enjoying our couch time?
Or ... do we want to hit it full on? Go up against the resistance directly (which as my pastor states, is often a clue that you may be at the dead center of God's Will for your life).
Do we want to learn by failing, or think we are winners by picking our own battles, our own path, our own methods, our own strategies ...
' For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.' - Isaiah 55:8-9
Maybe there are things we need to untwist in our life - maybe there are lessons staring at us in the face. Maybe we need to get out of the comfortable path and hit things dead on. Maybe we think we are winning and getting better, when in actuality, we are just losing our edge ...
Maybe there is an adventure we are missing ...
Game on?
His,
~Matthew
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