What I Am Not... (Part II)

Looking around Facebook can be a confusing and demoralizing past time. It, more than perhaps any other modern invention, makes us focus on what we aren't and what we do not have. This can go the way of lusting after what we have, or the way of that stuffed shirt Pharisee from Jesus' famous parable. "Dear Lord, I am SOOOOOO thankful I'm not like them." Neither are healthy... and by not healthy, I mean that they are the spiritual and metaphysical equivalent of eating a greasy spoon burger with a pound of cheddar and a slab of bacon on top.

One dude did get the whole "I am not" thing right though. His name was Dave. He was... smart, to be sure. A bit of a boss and a whole lot of righteous indignation. As is usually the case with those who get righteously angry a lot, he failed to get righteously angry with himself as much as he did with others. It only got worse as he got older.

He was pretty much the cream of the crop by the time he was 55, had the whole world in his hands, you could say... and then he made a critical error: he stayed home from work.

Small mistake? Maybe. But if there is one thing that I have learned over the past several years, it is that bad things happen when you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Anyway, he ended up staying home. He ended up chilling on his roof. He ended up ogling some dude's wife while she was taking a bath... and then things pretty much went downhill FAST. There was some hanky-panky, there was some murder and then there was a kid. And only after that did Dave finally figure out that maybe he should have gone to work that day after all.

Sound familiar? Good. King David of Israel? 1000BC-ish? Ruler of most of the Mediterranean at the time? Yeah... that guy.

David, while chosen and beloved of God... had finally pulled the rug out from beneath his feet. He was standing over nothing, and realized how far he was about to fall. Confronted with this, he realized what he was not:

He was not righteous. "There is no one righteous... no not one." We can only fool ourselves for so long. But then, realizing his own inability to pull himself up by his own bootstraps, he fell upon the mercy of the court:

"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to the multitude of Your tender mercy and loving-kindness blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly [and repeatedly] from my iniquity and guilt and cleanse me and make me wholly pure from my sin! For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them; my sin is ever before me." (Psalm 51: 1-3, AMP)

When you are facing death, spiritual or physical, you reevaluate everything. You realize there are things worth living for... and perhaps the only shot you have at life is admitting how small you are.

"Against You, You only, have I sinned and done that which is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified in Your sentence and faultless in Your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in [a state of] iniquity; my mother was sinful who conceived me [and I too am sinful]. Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart." (Verses 4-6)

But this is what we all hate: losing control. We are consumed with our haves and our wants and our lust for power. I am in control... and even if the stupid government is out of control and war is everywhere... at least I can rule my own life and emotions and my crap is my crap and no one elses!

Wrong. You are not. Let it go... breathe.

Breathe, and embrace the "am not"s. 

You aren't in charge... and don't let that be a curse. Let it be a blessing. You don't have to rule the world... you are free. Free to live... and move... and have your being... all while finding your "haves" in the Almighty Creator of every epic story ever told.