Outside Your Door -- E-day minus three

This has made a few rounds in my brain over the past month, and this time it took on a slightly different face. What the wicked fear, we’re told, comes upon him; but the desire of the righteous will be granted. Clearly both our fears and our desires have the effect of bringing us into the company of their object.

Tonight there was added to that another statement, this one not from the Bible. I heard the comment "… our future doesn’t feel welcome." The two concepts connected. Revelation says, "I stand at the door and knock …" Could it be that there are both "bad" things and promised blessings that are "out there," and what we experience depends on what we welcome?

This afternoon I was headed for someplace on the internet, and saw that one of the headlines was something about Palin being a liability to the campaign. Since the attached article mentioned only a not-inaccurate answer to a third-grader’s question, and the value of her campaign wardrobe (which was donated to her and which she intends to donate to charity) it’s hard to justify such a headline, but the headline existed. Suppose a little girl or maybe a college student, with dreams of politics in her head, sees that article. On the one hand, she sees an attractive, intelligent, feminine woman campaigning for a public office. On the other hand she reads the criticism of every tiny mistake, even to the extent that the wearing of attractive clothes is condemned. A war begins in this girl’s heart.

Our little girl knows that she makes mistakes, and cringes at the thought of every mistake becoming a national headline. She likes to wear pretty clothes, too, and cringes at the thought of having people wonder how much she paid for them. At the same time, she loves debating, and she knows she’s just as smart as the boys, and maybe even more inclined to be a leader and decision-maker than any of them she knows. Being the President of her country is her dream. And so the battle rages on.

There is no picture that is "all good." The famous have little privacy; the unknown have little influence. If the good future that God has planned for me involves fame and influence, I at some point will have to face the realities of fame and influence. At some point I will have to realize that the famous are condemned more often and more publicly than they are praised. They’re under a microscope all the time. The war is on: do I fear the bad thing, or do I desire the good thing?

God has promised good things for your future, and He’s promised good things for mine. Will we close the door on those promises, seeing their dark side? Or will we recognize that if we reject the good out of fear, that we’re opening the door for what we feared to come in, anyway?

Consider that with care.

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