Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Mistaking Confusion for Motive

"There's a way that looks harmless enough, look again-it leads straight to Hell." Proverbs 16:25

Have you ever noticed that when we say we are confused, it's usually in the middle of a crisis...and the crisis usually involves two things..."what I want to do ( more characterized by 'what I shouldn't do') and what I don't want to do ( more characterized by 'what I should do')? Yep...it's the old Freud Classic....a battle between id and ego..with superego off in the distance having a good laugh!

A wise friend once said to me that "we think we are confused when we are struggling to win the battle between right and wrong". We spend an enormous amount of effort trying to justify why we should do what we shouldn't and why we can't do what we should. The agony comes when we fail to convince our "Superego" whose job is to be the moral judge. We wrap ourselves all up in a tizzy all in the name of confusion when all the while what we are really feeling is the effects of our conscience voicing it's opinion. You see, God didn't make us stupid..we just tend to do stupid things. I have used this saying during various times over the years as a compass to point me in the direction of my true motives for the state of confusion I am in...and most of the time the confusion is directly related to my own selfish desires trying to outweigh what I know to be right.

There is a well full of tranquility in knowing that you are on the right road and no other sense of accomplishment is more satisfying. I want to be sure that the life I am leading is not in vain. God is the creator of me. He put me together complete with all my right parts, gifts, abilities, dreams and passions. I want to know that my life has a direction and a purpose. I don't want 'ME' to be the one and only thing that is guiding my superego because 'Me' has a lot of screw ups just waiting to happen. God has never let be down...this world has many, many times. I prefer to know that the path I am on was tailored made just for me by Him complete with my own personal travel guide...that should I get lost no matter how many times, He will point me back in the right direction. And should I get wounded...the great physician is right by my side. I like knowing that when I get up in the morning there is a day in wait with a purpose just for me..all I have to do is seek his wisdom and direction.

From my own perspective I have only two directions on my life's "compass" , my way and God's way. There was a time in my life when it all had to be my way....and when I first heard this advice from a wise friend I too was in the process of wanting something my way instead of doing it Gods way. Of course it seemed easier at the time, it always does, but in the long run...when you look at the whole picture, our way puts us on a course that brings us right back to where we were...back in the same situation and in the same state of confusion. Gods way may be a little tougher at first, but the blessings that will be lavished upon us, can never be matched. People are inclined to think that God is not listening or that He doesn't care or "it's just me, God has more important things to do". Oh but he cares so much! It's we who do not give him the opportunity to let him work in our lives and show us just exactly how much he does care and how much he wants to move us out of that state of confusion. suddenly