Angel Sighting

Image Management...

We live in a culture where you can be whoever you want to be. That can be a good thing, if you are really putting in effort to better yourself and your life. However, it also can be a very bad thing. In these days you can have a internet blog through Myspace, Facebook and others that you can pretend to be someone you are not. It is so easy! You just simply use a fake name and a fake picture and presto! You have a whole new life in under 5 minutes. I realized this when I opened up a myspace artist account to start networking my music. I would click on an artist page to become there friend and it would turn out that it was not the artist they were portraying. I started to think, how many people are on these blogs that "are not really on these blogs?" How many of these people are pretending to be someone they are not, just for the simple reason that they do not like who they really are or they are ashamed of who they really are?

We all want to be know for something good. Whether it be for good grades in school, having a great career, having good looks, have a good life style or simply just being a good parent. No one walks around and says that I want to be know for beating my kids or I want everyone to see this report card with three "F's" and two "D's" on it.

The fact of the matter is that we all have our problems in life, some more serious than others. And when we have these problems we tend to want to keep them to ourselves. We conduct "image management" in which we only allow people to see the side of us that we deem appropriate for other people to see. See, when there is a gap between what you want to be know for and what you really are, that is a problem. Because when there is a gap there are secrets. For example, my wife and I are not the all cute-see perfect couple that most people see us as. We have our problems like any other normal married couple but when it is Sunday morning and we roll into the church parking lot, the disagreement gets put aside and we smile, laugh and shake hands. That is image management to a certain degree. I would not go into church being all frustrated at my wife in front of other people because that is none of their business. However, as believers, there are some problems in our lives that have more power over us in the secret dark shadows of our lives than they would in the public.

James 5:16 says,"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

Now I am not saying that you should stand in front your entire church this Sunday and tell them your deepest darkest secrets that you have been hiding for the past 10, 20, 30 years! But you need to understand that we all had a gap or have a gap! We all practiced "Image Management" at some point in our lives! Trust me, we all want to be known for something good and positive, but what we need is to be known by someone! Someone who loves us to much to leave us the way we are. Who is praying for your gap? Who knows who you really are?

Johns Dark Hour...

Luke 7:18-20
18John's disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19he sent them to the Lord to ask, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

20When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?' "

21At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[b] are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 23Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

I find this scripture very interesting. Why would John question Jesus' authenticity. At this point John was in prison for a better part of 10 months. He was put there for basically rebuking Herod and his adulterous marriage. If you don't know, the jail cells in those days where not like they are now. They were very dark, cold and damp. You didn't see a lot of daylight. Anyhow, in that better part of a year John had a lot of time to reflect on his life and how he measured up to that point in time. For a better part of a year John has his disciples coming to him and telling him all these "different" things Jesus, the one John spoke of, was doing. Jesus wasn't what everyone thought the Messiah would be. Among many other things, he socialized with prostitutes and tax collectors, he attended parties and social gatherings and he did not fast in the same way and manor as everyone else did. So, John just hearing this and not being able to witness and experience the amazement of Jesus' miracles, found himself having a dark hour, an hour of doubt. Did he just waste his life? Was Jesus really the Messiah that the scriptures spoke of? In having the questions of doubt, he sends two of his disciples to ask Jesus, Are you really the one that we were expecting? The response that Jesus gives here is perfect. He didn't just stand there and talk to these two men and give them a list of reason why he is best fit to be the Messiah. Jesus knew that John was a man that lived his life according to scripture. And that just words from Jesus was not enough to prove his authenticity to John. So without saying a word he turns cures many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. This would make perfect sense to John because John knows that the Messiah is supposed to do all those things. Then he tells them to simply go back to John and tell him what they have seen.

See when we are in that dark hour of our lives when we question God. Is he real? Does he really care? Why can't I feel him anymore? Is there really a point to this walk or am I just a fool wasting my time? Those are the times we need to follow the example that Jesus' laid out for us and not turn to a bunch of gimmicks on how to get closer to God, but to simply turn to the scriptures. They are the actual words of God and there is nothing that is going to make you feel closer to him that reading his actual words he laid out for you and me.