Make Believe

            One of the most amazing parts of being a child is exercising your imagination. I watch my baby boy laugh every time our cat walks by and I wonder if he is pretending to explore a jungle or some foreign planet that his ship has landed on. Life is still such an adventure for him that I do not know that he has started pretending yet, but I look forward to sharing many adventures with him. As adults, we still use quite a bit of imagination but for different things. For example, when we hurt someone’s feelings we might pretend that it was their fault. We might pretend that because we are good friends with the leaders in our Church that we are more special to God than the other people who attend. We might pretend (in our own minds) that we are good people who could probably get into heaven on our own, but we have accepted Jesus as insurance for the afterlife.

            In Psalm 15, David describes a righteous person. He says that this person who is worthy to live with God would not speak ill of others or cause others harm. This person would love those the Lord loves and hate what the Lord hates. He would keep his word and give freely to others. He would not accept any bribes against innocent people and he would be a stronghold for the Lord. I could say that I have (maybe, at times, with a bit of imagination) lived all of these things, but I skipped over the very first thing David mentions because it is what I struggle with the most. David says the one who is worthy of living with the Lord is, “The one who lives honestly, practices righteousness, and acknowledges the truth in his heart.”

            I do my best to live honestly, but the easiest person to lie to is me. I often want to convince myself that I am a better person that I am or that my faults do not hurt the people around me, but this only keeps me from surrendering my shortcomings to the Lord and allowing the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection to overcome the sin in my life. What dishonesty do I hold in my heart right now? What do I need to surrender to the Lord? How can I work to live a life in which I acknowledge the truth in my heart?

            Lord, forgive me for hiding dishonesty in my heart. Help me to remember that your love overcomes my faults and that I do not have to hide them from You. Please instead help me to surrender my failures to You. Make my heart a place for truth. Amen.