There is an ostrich which lives in part of me. I am not proud of it, but it is true. The ostrich likes to bury her head in the sand sometimes and pretend that everything is right with the world around her when it really is not. This is what I believe God is showing me about myself right now.
Here is the truth. I do not watch the news. I really don’t like to listen to talk radio. I don’t have time to read the paper or even want to pay to get a paper. Therefore, I hardly ever watch or read the news.
Most of the time I hear about the news when I hear other people talking about the news around the water cooler or when I see it on my Facebook news feed. Sometimes, Carl will talk about things he has heard on talk radio. My mom has said more than once to me, “Andrea, are you living under a rock?”
No, I am not living under a rock, but I might have my head buried in the sand sometimes. The reason I don’t like watching the news is it is so depressing to me. It makes me sad. It makes me angry. It makes me afraid. It makes me feel helpless. We are living in a country where people are talking about selling baby body parts at a lunch table? What have we become, and is there any hope?
I love how in scripture God says “do not be afraid”. I love it, because it helps me to realize that I am not the only one who has felt this way. However, God did not give us a spirit of fear. 2 Timothy 1:7b (ESV) says, “for God gave us not a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
I believe it is not pleasing to God when I desire to put my head in the sand. I still don’t like to watch the news, but I know I need to in order to be informed. I might like to make dinner, make dessert, do my laundry and run my errands all the while not really worrying about the fact that ISIS is alive and well in a world where I am raising my children. However, that is not the truth.
The real truth is that I have the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead living inside of me. The truth is Christ is still on His throne. The truth is He has allowed me to live specifically in this time for His good purpose. The truth is I am called to be more than an ostrich with my head in the sand. I am called to speak the truth in love as in Ephesians 4:15. I am sent out as a sheep among the wolves, but I am called to be wise as a serpent and be innocent as a dove as in Matthew 10:16.
I can tell you about this flaw in myself, this sinful behavior, because I am sure that some of you out there feel the same way. I am probably not the only ostrich who desires to sink my head in the sand. However, Deuteronomy 31:6 (ESV) says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes before you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
I have always loved the scene in the original Lion King movie when Simba’s dad, Mufasa, visits him in a vision from a cloud in the night sky. He charges his son with forgetting who he his and says to him, “You are more than what you have become.” I wonder if there are others out there besides me that need a good wake up call. I wonder if there are some out there who have forgotten who they are in Christ and what they should be doing. We should be about making much of God, speaking truth, and never backing down from biblical standards. We should get our heads out of the sand and get to work about doing God’s business in love always remembering that Christ was a friend of sinners. That is my goal.