Fighting Fantasy

I seriously think I'm in a better place right now than I have ever been in my life. Let me elaborate...
I've started to discover that one of the biggest battles human beings face in this life is an escapist mentality. There's always something we can find not to like in our lives. Feelings, circumstances, etc., but in focusing on these things when we don't need to, we can fail to consider our families and friends and homes with the importance that they deserve. Because we want to 'escape' we start to construct little empires, building more, making more, earning more, getting locked-in to our own little fantasy world. Meanwhile, our families and all that we should be drawing near to in these times are slowly being compromised... For satisfaction many of us look for treasure in the form of books, cars, and possessions, but God has already given us treasure in the form of friends and family and people we trust. Relationships.

"To iPad or not to iPad" In this day and age, some of the most frequent questions we ask ourselves, me included, are questions like, 'What website should I browse?' or 'What video should I watch?' and 'Who should and shouldn't I follow on twitter?' Our visual sensors in this day and age go through a lot. We put our eyes through hell sometimes. Yesterday I was sitting in the conservatory and I thought, and posted on Facebook, 'It's quiet.' Maybe everyone in Leek had put down their iPads, phones, laptops, and computers in a moment of revelation, silenced by the beauty of creation... Or maybe they had all picked up their iPads, instantly absorbed and entranced in a world of technological endlessness... We make choices.

Fantasy Mentality The purpose of this post, however, is not to condemn you in the way that you treat what you have been given, but to enlighten you to some degree, regarding my current recurring revelation of the beauty of relationships, family, and living in the here and now. I love dreams with all my heart, but have been, this year in particular, made aware of the obscurities of some of my desires. For a number of years this 'dream mentality', or as I've started to redefine it, 'fantasy mentality' (the reason being that dreaming is good, fantasizing is bad) dominated my way of life. Since the age of seven I've been a follower of Christ, with the overriding desire to do what's right, but only recently I've discovered that this 'fantasy mentality' had crept in somewhere along the line and become a part of my lifestyle. Fantasy begins as a dream, but becomes ugly when it's driven by impatience, dissatisfaction, greed, selfishness and obsession. Now - Let me be clear. I love Spiderman, Marvel Comics and all that cool stuff. Here I'm not talking fictional tales but about when fantasy becomes our life. There was a significant time in my life and have been a few occasions since where I've let fantasy become my reality! A defining attribute of fantasy, which makes it so bad, is that it's the pursuit of something that is not God's best for you. You might be pursuing something that's right at the wrong time, or even the wrong thing altogether. We have to realise that there are things that we enjoy that shouldn't be pursued 24/7. Are we in love with something or someone? Possessions or relationships? Everything that's wonderful is created by someone, and in those times when we feel depressed, confused and consumed by an obsession with something, it's because in reality, we have taken God off the throne in our lives and the thing we're fantasizing about has become our new god. Our idol.

Dethroning the idols This is so simple. Call your thing what it is. An idol. When God is god of your life, everything else fits in to place and strangely makes sense! Everything becomes beautiful because Jesus is the centre. Anything can be be elevated to the highest place in your life, but only Jesus deserves that place. Even now as I'm writing this God's presence is so strong. Let Jesus take the highest place and watch the dreams become reality. Let the relationships He's put on your life become all they were destined to be... Especially the one you have with Him.

When you've played your part - When you've taken your stand for God, remember that God Himself is speaking over you too: 'I will be your God throughout your lifetime - until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.' (- Isaiah 46 v 4.)

For all the things you long to see and long to be a part of, but seem to be endlessly waiting for, God is also saying, "There is further for you to go with me yet. Let me be God now, so that I will be God then..."

Settle for nothing less than God's best for you.
Keep fighting the fantasy.
Dethrone your idols.
Re-throne God.
:)

Elkman Out.