“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 56
Each of us is telling a story every day, and we are the central character in the story we tell. We tell the story, but many of us do not have the perspective to proof-read our own story, the one we are telling. If we did a little proof-reading, we would see that we have gradually turned into the kind of character that nobody likes when they see it on a page or a screen.
When a shop owner is lazy, and does not serve his customers faithfully, what kind of character is that when you see him in a movie? When a customer quarrels with the hapless ticket agent in the airport (who had nothing to do with the bad weather in Chicago), what kind of character is that in the stories you read carefully? We drift into these roles when we write our lives without proof-reading them. But “proof-reading” requires reflection in wisdom, and this wisdom only comes from Scripture. When we look at ourselves in the mirror of the Word, we can actually see ourselves in a way that is helpful. But if we ignore the Word, we reject this help. And if we look to the Word, but forget about it when we turn away, then, as James put it, we are self-deceived.