July 8 - Fear of living a silly, confused, trivial life
Scripture focus: But God's angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand. Romans 1:18-23 (The Message)
One of my greatest fears is living a silly, confused, trivial life. I do not want to be illiterate with regards to life. I don't want to settle for cheap figurines that can be purchased at any roadside stand. I was promised the abundant life by Jesus himself, and I want to claim this prize. Without sense or direction in our lives, we who are created for grand epic adventures and participation in God's prevailing purposes degenerate into shame-filled, sinning people who betray God, self and others. This is a great sadness. It has terrible, frightful implications for our community. By-products of betrayal include crisis and trauma. Crisis and trauma (two distinct experiences that we will define in future devotionals more specifically) have deleterious effects on people. We were not created to handle sin, stress, shame, and trauma. Our bodies react negatively; they cannot cope or adjust to godlessness. Below are some statistics that illustrate the reality of our inability to find the abundant life if we are surrounded by a community that is illiterate with regards to life.
- One in three women are sexually abused prior to age 18 by someone they are supposed to love and trust; many of these abuses are chronic. This is betrayal in action.
- One in five men are sexually abused prior to age 18 by the same group of people -- people they know and are supposed to count on for love and support. This betrayal is often chronic too.
- Thirty percent of women experience domestic violence at the hands of a man they should be able to love and trust. Men experience this same domestic violence at the hands of women that should love and trust them as well.
- 5.2 million adults in the United States ages 18-54 have post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -- as a result of violation of trust and in response to crisis or trauma. 61% of men and 51% of women have experienced traumas linked to PTSD.
Recommended reading: Judges 18-21
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3 comments:
I was driving to work this morning feeling very deflated and sad. I had an experience the previous night with family that made me feel extremely disconnected. It left me with a sense of insignificance, invisibility and irrelevance. What has my entire life been all about? Have I been aiming at the wrong target? Have all the hopes and dreams I have had for my family been for nothing? How do I refocus? How do I reframe? I know my North Star but I think I have been shooting for the moon instead! I have been looking to the wrong purpose. The danger is living the rest of my life off track, even though I thought I was on the right one. This will only produce a life of shame and fear. I don't want that! I don't want cheap figurines. I will choose to follow my North Star. Thanks to my community who continually helps me stay on track!
•One in three women are sexually abused prior to age 18 by someone This is betrayal in action.
•One in five men are sexually abused prior to age 18 by the same group of people This betrayal is often chronic too.
•Thirty percent of women experience domestic violence at the hands of a man they should be able to love and trust. Men experience this same domestic violence at the hands of women that should love and trust them as well.
Anyone surprised by these stats. ?
I'm not as this type of trauma is extremely shameful. Why shameful, WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT IT KEEPING IT INSIDE TO FESTURE JUST AS THE ABUSER INTENDED. We think no one would understand and they would feel less about me if they knew. An oject lesson in SHAME. It wasn't our/my fault. We can break the power this has over us by bringing it to the LIGHT, talking about it. I carried it for 43 years and it killed me spiritually and just about killed me literally through addiction.
Once I started talking about it in treatment the dam broke, the tears the sobs were so healing as the energy of this secret was being released on my therapist and community. The little boy that had been abused started turning into the man GOD created him to be as one layer at a time was healed. The man eventually found purpose through Christ and walks amoung other men that suffered this as their friend because he now has the experience that the young boy needed to heal.
My prayer today is that everyone who has experienced the above can take the risk of bringing these types of hurts to the LIght of Christ through safe followers. Surround yourselves with those that have found their way out and let the healing and journey of freedom begin. And give freely what you have received freely to those that suffer.
In Christ Name I pray.
sexual abuse figures quoted are simply those reported, as teresa pointed out. the actual incidents of that deep trauma are much higher. the result of that trauma is a life of darkness, fear, betrayal, abandonment, shattering, and a lifetime of living like the facade of a hollywood movie set, abandoned, decaying and dying. i was abused, i abused, in so many ways. as shame dawg shared, secrets can only be healed when brought to the light in a community like north star. "sin will come to a little child, but woe to the man by whom that sin comes. it would be better that a millstone be hung around his neck , and he be drowned in the depth of the sea." (mt.19) i was a dead man walking, worthy of being drowned in the depth of the sea. much like judas,of whom jesus said "...woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. it would have been better for that man if he had not been born." (mt.26) judas betrayed jesus with a kiss. betrayal by false intimacy by both judas and those who sexually abuse. nevertheless, jesus heals both the abused and abuser, as he heals all those who surrender all. jesus knows what it is like to be abused, and forgave those who took his life. the issue then is first of all, for the abuser to completely totally turn, embracing full responsibility and accepting all consequences. safety can be found by both abused and abuser only by being fully in and healed by jesus.
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