Running from Truth ~ Hamster Wheels

Greetings Dear Reader,

I do not think that hamsters think about exercise.  I know that they will spend a great deal of time on little wheels rapidly running nowhere.  “Hamster wheels allow hamsters to cover the miles and miles of distance they would in the wild, within the confined space of a cage. Despite most cages having a small surface area, a hamster can still release all the energy it needs using an exercise wheel.”  (Dwarf Hamster Guide)  We have made this action synonymous with futility.  Yesterday, I pondered the way in which we run laps around lies.  I wish today to examine our routines.   Specifically, I am wishing to examine the things we do “for God” that are habits. 

I am not saying that habits are wrong on their own.  Good habits build good lives.  Routine things must not become routine and mean little else.  I think that we can become victims to the lie that our religious habits make us faithful spiritual beings.  It is our religious routine that can kill our faith and following.

If we ponder the cadence of our Sunday worship, we expect things to run a certain way.  We even get bothered if the routine is changed.  Over the last year, many of our church habits have been changed or challenged because of social distancing.  It brings into question the reasons why we do what we do as Christ-followers.

I have to examine the why of things so that I am not losing the holiness in the habits.  The prayer, the worship, and the teaching all matter.  If I routinely do the things that everyone else does without engaging with the Father, then I am not actually doing the thing.  My prayer must not be simply listening to whatever prayer is being offered from the platform.  My singing must be from my heart not just melodically repeating words.  Bible reading cannot be coldly mouthing the words that have eternal value.

The hamster is running because hamsters are designed to run.  They are doing what the Father built them to do.  We are designed to love God and enjoy him forever.  If I let that become routine and rote, I fail to love and enjoy.  My mourning prayer, my Bible reading, and my interactions with others must all be moments of loving the Father.  They must all be acts of worship.  They must be done out of our determination to do what we are designed to do as creations of the living God.

It is not the habits that the problem, Dear Reader.  It is failing to be in the moment with those habits.  It is making the things of God mindless habits that are dangerous.  It is failing to acknowledge the Father in every heartbeat, every thought, and every action that is the routine I must adopt and live.  It is seeking Christ and his desire for us within each step that makes our journey work.  That is the routine; the hamster wheel I must run.  Anything else is running from the truth and getting nowhere.  

Wishing you joy in the journey, 

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good. 

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We handle holy things and forget that they are holy.