Sobering Up
When God opens your eyes it is an absolutely amazing experience. Nothing can compare to it and once it happens you have no desire to return to the way you were. But it is not all rainbows and gumdrops. It can be a bit isolating.
When you have been given understanding that has not also been made available to the people around you, you are constantly thought of in a negative light because the people in your life are not operating from the same perspective that you are, and so they don’t know where you are coming from and to them it appears that something is wrong with you. From their perspective you can seem to be irresponsible, insensitive, out of touch, crazy, disloyal, unwise, out of line, out of order, overly serious, misinformed, overzealous, oblivious, and unreasonable. You are discredited and rejected constantly and no one, not even those that love you, just come right out and explicitly tell you how they feel or what they are thinking about you; however, unbeknownst to them you are able to see past what people say and do to what they are truly thinking and feeling. And when you discern peoples true feelings about who you have become and what God is doing in your life it can hurt your heart, frustrate you, irritate you, upset you, it can also invite haughtiness into your mind but God corrects you and consoles you and gives you perspective again.
When God grants you understanding it feels very similar to being the only sober person at the party. Everyone around you is living life and doing as they please but since this go ‘round you are not partaking in the same things that they are and hence you are able to look at things differently than you ever were before. This time as you take a look around you notice how sloppy everyone else looks and how unattractive they are behaving and you say to yourself “aww man that looks crazy I am never gonna drink again”.
After you sober up the people that used to hang out with you don’t want to hang out with you anymore —they no longer think you are fun, and the places you used to go no longer have the same appeal that they had before —they have nothing to offer you, and the people you used to look up to are not who you thought they were, and the life you used to aspire to is not at all what you want for yourself in anyway anymore, and your idea of success has totally been rocked and you see now it was all vanity. And with all this new insight hitting you all at once, it feels a bit overwhelming… you realize nothing is as it seemed, and that blows your mind. It is during this phase of life that you are truly able to empathize with Jesus — you get a little taste of what it must have been like to live as he did, with the responsibility he had, and with the disbelief, disrespect, and hatred that he experienced.
It has been said that “with great power comes great responsibility” and “to whom much is given much is required” but as another saying also goes “it is easier said than done”. “It takes nothing to join the crowd but everything to stand alone.”
So when you find yourself experiencing the awakening that I am describing understand that God did not inform everyone else of what he told you to do and also remember and be encouraged by the words in 2 Corinthians:
“God has been kind enough to trust us with this work. This is why we never give up. 2We don’t do shameful things that must be kept secret. And we don’t try to fool anyone or twist God’s message around. God is our witness that we speak only the truth, so others will be sure we can be trusted. 3If there is anything hidden about our message, it is hidden only to someone who is lost.
4The god who rules this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers. They cannot see the light, which is the good news about our glorious Christ, who shows what God is like. 5We are not preaching about ourselves. Our message is that Jesus Christ is Lord. He also sent us to be your servants. 6 The Scriptures say, “God commanded light to shine in the dark.” Now God is shining in our hearts to let you know that his glory is seen in Jesus Christ.”
