Pitiable, Poor, Blind and Naked?

In this house it seems the dolls are always lying around naked.  The girls play House, and Church, and Going to Town in such creative imaginative ways that it actually impress me - all the while their babies are completely bare!  It perplexes my mind that my daughters, who love pretty things and dressing up, wouldn’t want to have cute clothes on their dolls.  I think I may have found the answer.

 

I was asking our youngest, Cassie Jo, about the naked doll she was playing with and “why doesn’t she have any clothes on?”  She informed me quite clearly that she DID have a dress on, and it was pretty and pink!  So I’m thinking that in their minds all the dolls are looking quite their best, and it’s easier to change clothes when it’s all in your head.  The mamma (and any company in our houseL) sees the reality that is a little disturbing – Stark-naked Dolls.

 

We have a lot to learn about human tendencies by watching our kids.  Often if there’s an area in their character I’d like to see improvement on, I can look in my own life an see something similar.  Oh, you’d never know it.  Grownups are good at making selfishness look okay and beautiful on the surface.  It’s when you dig down into the deeps of your heart and see your motives that you realize the darkness there.

 

So how many “naked dolls” am I playing with?  Some people subscribe to the concept that whatever you believe or have faith in is right for you.  As though what you believe creates reality.  I don’t subscribe to that philosophy of relativism.  At least I say I don’t.

 

My mind goes to a verse that to me is one of the saddest, and at the same time most terrifying, verses in the Bible.  It’s followed my some of the most simple, secure, and comforting words of Jesus.

 

“For you say, I am rich, I have prospered,

and I need nothing,

 not realizing that you are wretched,

pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”

 

Completely deceived, aren’t they?  Being decived is a scary thing!!!

 

“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire,

so that you may be rich,

and white garments so that you may clothe yourself

and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen,

and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

 

Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline,

so be zealous and repent.

 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,

I will come in to him and eat with him,

and he with me.”

(Revelation 3:17-20)

 

 

Is the life I’m living is truly what following Christ should look like?  Or is my form of Christianity just a naked doll I’m playing with?  Is it my mind or imagination that sees my faith beautifully clothed with the most beautiful pink dress available?  Jesus says it’s only through Him and a relationship with Him that true Christianity exists.  Do I hear Him knocking?  Am I inviting Him in and enjoying a meal (fellowship) with Him?  Or is my idea of Christianity one that goes no farther than believing I’m looking right?

 

David Platt says in his book, Radical, that, “we are starting to redefine Christianity. We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and turn him into the version of Jesus we are more comfortable with.

A nice middle-class, American Jesus.   A Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have.  A Jesus who would not expect us to forsake our closest relationships so that he receives all our affection.  A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, after all he loves us just the way we are.  A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who, for that matter, wants us to avoid darger altogether.   A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on the American dream.

But do you and I realize what we are doing at this point?  We are molding Jesus into our image.  He is beginning to look a lot like us because, after all, that is whom we are most comfortable with.   And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshipping the Jesus of the Bible.  Instead we may be worshipping ourselves.”

 

Jeremiah says,

“the heart is deceitful about all things,

and desperately wicked; who can know it?”

(Jer.17:9)

and,   “They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,

and hewn themselves cisterns that can hold no water.”

(Jer. 2:13b) 

 

This is typical human behavior.  I am not exempt from it.  Always, God has the answer for my wretchedness.

 

 “Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live…” (Isaiah 55:1-3)