Worlds Are Colliding...

So I just finished watching a delightful season 7 episode of Seinfeld here on my computer.

Probably not the way you expected a Cultivate Blog entry to start. Nevertheless...

Now, for those of you who are not Seinfeld fans (I think the technical term is "heathens." Okay, just kidding), the central character in the show is a guy named Jerry, and he hangs out with his best friends, Elaine, Kramer, and George. Unfortunately for George, he's in a bit of a problem. You see, George's fiancee is not really part of his group of friends, so George has developed a bit of a split personality problem. Around his friends Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer, George acts a certain way and calls this person "Independent George." Around his fiancee, though, George acts another way and calls this person "Relationship George." Problems erupt for George when one of his close friends, Elaine, decides to become friends with his fiancee, Susan. Now, George will inevitably find himself in a social situation with both his group of friends and his fiancee. This, in George's mind, will lead only to his destruction. Take a look...

It might sound kind of dumb to you, but I think that a lot of us do the same exact thing in our relationship with God. We have a tendency to live two lives in our relationship with God. I know that I oftentimes act like one person on the outside, but on the inside, I am knee-deep in stuff like sexual sin, greed, bitterness, hate, and all those other not-so-great things. Yet while I'm struggling big time, I'll try to sweep it under the rug. I've got "Relationship Wes" I bring out around God and on Sunday mornings, and then I've got "Independent Wes," who secretly lives this other life when no one is looking.

You see, God isn't impressed by our acting, no matter how big or small it might be. God wants us to be honest and truthful about ourselves, about our junk, about everything. He might not be satisfied with our sin, but I believe that our relationship with God is a lot better off when we quit trying to hide our junk and come clean. Just think of the story of King David in 2 Samuel 11. David had sex with a married woman while her husband was away at war, and she conceived. So what does David do? Instead of coming clean, he tries to get this woman's husband to sleep with her so everyone will think the child was his (thank goodness Maury Povich didn't have a show back in those days). But alas, David's attempts don't work. Eventually, he arranges for this woman's husband to be killed in battle, and then marries her (a common practice to protect widows in those days), so that everyone will think David and his new wife Bathsheba conceived a child in wedlock and that everything is fine and dandy. David was secretly living two lives, but thought he was going to get away with it.

But while everyone else was fooled, God was not. In 2 Samuel 12, the prophet Nathan receives a message from God and approaches David, accusing him of this grievous sin. David had been found out.

Just like George, his worlds were colliding.

Eventually, after many events transpired, David wrote Psalm 51 as a song asking for forgiveness from God, coming clean of his double-life. I think that in a lot of ways, we need to do the same. When we act like a different person before God, we never win. To paraphrase Numbers 32:23, our worlds will always end up colliding. It never ends pretty.

So this Wednesday as I write, I just want to ask you, are you living a double life? Is it time to come clean with God, with others, and with (most importantly) yourself?

wb