In March of 2018 I wrote an article titled “From a Wrestling Christian – Do you have deep conversations?” To spare you from reading it, the main gist was that we (as human beings who have all experienced difficult things), don’t really want to have a conversation that bridges those challenging subjects.
We just want to talk about the weather or how the football team won (or lost) this past weekend.
What’s changed?
It’s crazy because not much has changed since March. I thought I would have a revelation moment that would snap me out of my current emotional state and into the relatively good emotional state that I had before. It’s as if I’m waiting for something, anything to shake me and tell me to wake up. As if reality is just a dream.
Have you ever felt that way: Lost and not sure what’s next, as if reality is just a dream?
What do we do?
See what I did there? I just lumped you in with myself and everyone else that perhaps is emotionally unstable as we all look for answers. And yes, I want an answer as much as the next person. There are plenty of answers, just ask Google.
If you do ask Google about your current circumstance, you will likely find thousands upon thousands of answers. Guides to create a better you or to get yourself out of your slump or to create a better spiritual and emotional life for yourself.
God isn’t Google
But if there is something I have learned over this current expedition into the harsh realities of life, where things don’t slow down and neither do people, is that God isn’t Google.
It’s interesting that we so often run to the same things that haven’t helped us in the past. The world has created so many things to take up our time and keep us distracted. To keep our minds moving at 1,000kph as we try to keep up with the latest news, fashions, sports, news feeds and more. The world will continue to feed us information, challenge our perceptions, give us new angles and tell us that we need it all. That somehow all this stuff will satisfy us.
The Bible
I know, I know. Where is the new thing? Where can I get the new step by step process to get me out of this spiritual and emotional slump? And that’s exactly my point. Our culture has hard wired the idea that we need something new and shiny that will “help” us and give us everything we ever dreamt of.
For thousands of years the Bible has stood the test of time. God hasn’t come back and given us a new Bible and told us that we need new information. His message seems to have stayed the same.
God promises to give us life that comes from Him. So, for now, I cling to that hope. That because God hasn’t changed, I don’t need some brand new thing, I actually just need God.
My challenge to myself the reader: Can we try to read the Bible as if God put life and meaning in it?
Jason LaLone was on staff at YWAM Brisbane and is currently in America working with Truro Anglican Church located in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about discipleship, taking Jesus’ command to make disciples a practical reality that he can live on a daily basis. He loves lasagna, cats and used to dislike Monday's, making him most like Garfield.
Jason LaLone’s previous articles might be viewed at: http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/Jason-LaLone.html