In or Out of Touch?

Have you ever listened to a political leader giving a speech concerning some new legislation that they are proposing, or stating their response to an emergency situation like city riots, open borders or our interactions with other nations… and after a few moments of listening, twisted your head and dumbfoundedly said “Huh?”  Followed immediately by the thought “This person is completely out-of-touch with the people and their real needs or with what’s going on in that particular situation, in that particular location!”

Well, I have… and then I am continually amazed how they can make their befuddled (and I might also want to add “ignorant” comments, but then I don’t want to sound too harsh…) and factually incorrect public announcements while they stand there in front of a camera with a very sincere, serious and straight face!  Am I the only one that has noticed this?

Piper and I personally experienced this exact phenonium when we returned home after Bible School in Oklahoma and began to deal with the cognitive difficulties that were becoming more and more pronounced in Piper.  Totally false and/or misleading stories began to arise in our family circle about things that I was supposedly doing or not doing for Piper and her needs.  As these conversations surfaced, I found myself dumbstruck and in shock and asked Piper, “How can these people, who have known us most of our lives, be so out-of-touch with reality?  It’s like they never really knew us!”

Romans 8:5 informs us that “Those who are motivated by the flesh only pursue what benefits themselves. But those who live by the impulses of the Holy Spirit are motivated to pursue spiritual realities.” (The Passion Translation) 

As I mediated on this verse and as is my normal practice, I looked it up in numerous other translations… and the light suddenly went on.  I began to see that individuals who have the mind-set of the flesh get so focused on themselves that they lose touch with what is really going on with other people… and many times those people are the ones closest to them.

I saw that through the years with different people that I worked with, people in the church and even within my own family.  I witnessed married couples get so involved with their individual jobs, friends, hobbies, charities, their kids sports and yes… even church participation, that they suddenly found themselves having nothing in common with their spouses anymore!

I’ve also seen individuals, couples and even entire families become so closed off that they began to live in their own little world… and after a while… the little world that they have created becomes the only way of life to them and they see the way other people live as something abhorrent and wrong.

This is a common trick that the enemy of our faith, the devil, has repeatedly used since the creation of the world.  It’s how he got Adam and Eve to sin against God and get thrown out of the Garden of Eden.  He deceived Eve by getting her to focus her attention on herself and how she could become like God… and it opened the door wide for the enemy to come in and steal them (and us) away from God’s perfect plan for mankind. (See: Genesis 3:1-24)

Then he tried to do the same thing with Jesus when he tempted Him in the desert after he hadn’t eaten anything for forty days and forty nights.  Three times the devil tried to get Jesus to take His eyes off of the plan and purpose that God the Father had sent Him to accomplish… to throw it all away… and take the opportunity at hand to benefit Himself and satisfy the care of His own needs.  (See: Matthew 4:1-11)

As Christians, we can get so involved with life that we begin to lose sight of Christ and the special callings, plans and/or purposes that He has for us to accomplish for Him.  Since I received God’s calling into the ministry back at that Jr High Snow Camp in the late 1970’s, I’ve had little difficulty keeping my focus on His direction for Piper and I, which was to be culminated by Piper’s and my attendance at Bible College and then return home to pastor a church of our own in a neighboring county.

And I will whole heartedly confess, that when she very unexpectantly got sick and then passed… I was more than just a little discombobulated and totally thrown off course!  Its now taken three long years, but I finally feel like I am regaining my focus on His directions for me.  I’ve learned that everyone’s journey of grief is unique to them, and as I have fought to keep my focus, my trust and my faith in Him and His Word concerning His specific plan and purpose for me, I am now beginning to once again find steady ground to walk on.

I discovered along the way, that it could be very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the whole world was revolving around my personal sorrow and pain.  But thanks be to God, that I continue to “run” into different folks who have found themselves in similar positions as mine.  This has helped me immensely in staying in touch with the needs of others around me.  I just found out last week during a visit to Fiver’s Vet (for him… not me…) that the Doctor also lost his wife to Alzheimer’s a few years prior to my losing Piper.  We had so many things in common, including the way our dogs stepped up to add a special level of protection and care for their human sick one!

Through it all… I know that I don’t ever want to be an embarrassment to someone near to me by being so far out of touch with their reality… and look like a fool in the process… and I bet that you would agree with me concerning your own involvement with others around you!

The Bible tells us that it is far better for us as Christians, to stay in touch to the leadings and motivations of the Holy Spirit and to actively pursue spiritual realities and not only those pleasures that benefit ourselves.

What do you think?  Is that something that you can agree with?