A numbing to truth is taking place causing many believers to lose their grip on spiritual reality. While the offering may feel good at the moment, it has long-term consequences for the integrity of our faith.
Yesterday, I had a dental procedure that required three hours in a periodontist’s chair. Because the procedure was so long, it required a second round of Novocain injections to keep my mouth numb. About halfway through the operation, I was asked, “Can you feel any pain.” My answer was “Yes!”, so the second round of Novocain injections was administered. I was able to get through the last hour and a half of the work happily numb.
There is another kind of numbness that is not as innocent and welcoming as taking a shot in a dentist’s office. That kind of numbness is allowing ourselves to become numb to what is happening in our world when we should feel the full force of the pain being inflicted.
A spiritual and cultural numbing has been offered to people of faith to numb us to reality. When numbed by half-truths and outright lies, we can succumb to things we would never permit had we been aware of what was happening to our minds and will.
Discerning life without spiritual painkillers offers us a sensitivity that being numb cannot provide. We have been numbed to our need for Scripture to form and direct our lives. Some have abandoned biblical truth for the fairy tales of humanism and social engineering. The Psalmist wrote, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). If we have been spiritually numbed, we will allow things opposed to the truth to fill our hearts. Syringes filled with numbing agents like isolation, deception, fear, and pride have been prepared to numb our minds and our ability to love.
Our world is going through a tremendous shift that will only be possible to complete with numbed people. This alignment with the shift will happen to individuals who cannot remember the last time they read the word of God or dug deeper than a surface interpretation of reality to ask why they are being asked to submit to a numbing agent.
Jesus refused wine mixed with gall at the time of His crucifixion. The drink was typically offered to those being crucified to ease their pain. The Lord did not want to have His senses dulled. He remained aware for our sakes. In our most painful moments of life, we need to refuse any offer that would dull our spiritual senses so we can remain spiritually awake, and able to perceive the reality of what God is doing. His reality will always include a resurrection for those who remained awake and aware.
I am finding that one of the numbing agents in my life is entertainment. Cell phone over-information and video series