My four grandchildren squeezed into the two foot by two foot by three foot cubby near the floor meant to hold audio video equipment for a home theater in our room above the garage. The shelves and door were never installed. A hand-painted blue and green tree lined canvas rests against the back wall secreting holes meant for electrical cords. Though it is much smaller than the actual wardrobe in Spare Oom, it is often just as magical as Narnia. On this rainy morning when cooler temperatures and thunderstorms prevented the cousins from puddle jumping and after they had tired of climbing their mom’s latest Nugget Couch configuration, Thomas and Amelia, usually vying for the lead, darted for the cubby in the far window alcove, alternately shouting and motioning for the little boys to follow.
“It’s a bear! Hurry! Get inside! Shut the door!” All I could see was arms as both Thomas and Amelia reached out to slide the spare Nugget cushion across the opening. At this point, Ezra, who was being squished by the weight of one of the others began to cry. “Let him out. Let him out.” Thomas chanted. The cushion slid aside and Ezra toppled out onto the floor. Once on his feet, he started toward my end of the room, thought better of it and ducked back into the cabinet. “Let him in. Let him in,” Amelia nearly shouted. “Here comes the bear!”
Bear sightings occur rarely near my home. A little further into the mountains, sightings are fairly common but in the foothills, it’s novelty. The only bears in my house are the small stuffed variety from Build-A-Bear. No taxidermy was involved. All the same, Amelia went through a phase shortly before her family moved in with us this year after reading “We’re Going On A Bear Hunt,” by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury, where her sleep was regularly interrupted and she constantly asked if a bear could get into her house or mine. She has a very vivid imagination, as do most children before a certain age.
In parts of the country and the world, wild animals getting into homes is a very real concern for a child but not here, not in Amelia’s home. Her mom and dad wisely put the book away for awhile and assured three year old Amelia that the story is make believe. We learned more about bears together and even visited a twenty-three year old grizzly in the zoo. We were separated by thick glass but we enjoyed a very up close look as he napped, belly up, by the window. Bears are indeed real and they are part of our world. We learn to appreciate their size and gain a healthy respect for them even though we do not encounter them on a daily basis. We would never venture into a bear cave, even on tiptoe and if we did unintentionally stumble across a sleeping bear, we know that running to hide under covers would be futile.
Parents and by extension grandparents are tasked with making sure our children understand the difference between reality and make believe. We are tasked with teaching them truth. For every Christian parent, Biblical truths are paramount yet other facts exist that are also not up for debate. Gravity, though it can be temporarily defied, cannot be ignored. What goes up must come down eventually, a lesson often learned the hard way by experience. Ezra, like his daddy before him, seems determined to test its limits constantly. This natural law has held true every single time. Fish are designed to breathe in water while mammals breathe air. We can live without food for longer than we could survive without drinking water. We are not born knowing these things. We are taught by someone usually older and wiser than ourselves. Most disturbing for me is the blurring of the lines between real and imaginary, not by children but by the adults entrusted with their care. Parents and grandparents have not just dropped the ball by failing to teach God’s truth to the next generation. They have crossed a line by misleading someone created in the image of God, regardless of age.
“Then he put a little child among them.
Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”
But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck.”
Mark 9:36-37, 42 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mrk.9.42.NLT
Satan has blinded the minds of many people, intelligent people, well-educated and well-intentioned individuals, people you would likely admire if you did not know the Truth. As God told Samuel while he was grieving over Israel’s first king, Saul, “I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7)
“People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives.”
Proverbs 16:2 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/pro.16.2.NLT
“For the word of God is alive and powerful.
It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.
It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.
Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.”
Hebrews 4:12-13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.4.13.NLT
Without the Light of life that Jesus brings, without the discernment of God’s Spirit, we walk in absolute darkness. My level of education, my opinions, my degrees, publications and endorsements, are entirely meaningless if they stand in opposition to the absolute Truth of God’s Holy Word.
“Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”
Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?” “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,”
Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.”
John 9:39-41 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.9.39-41.NLT
“What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart!
They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is.”
What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.
What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.”
Isaiah 5:18-21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.5.18-21.NLT
While John was exiled on Patmos for preaching the word of God and for his testimony about Jesus, he received the Revelation from the Lord. Jesus in His glorified form addressed John, directing him to write down what he saw to be circulated among the churches. John’s visions depicted the judgements of God being poured out, “But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God.
They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk!
And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
Revelation 9:20-21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rev.9.20-21.NLT
God sees and knows all because He is fully present in every age. As He stood with Abraham, allowing him to intercede on Lot’s behalf even as He prepared to carry out the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; when He allowed Abraham to look on the Promised Land four generations before his descendants would enter it because the sins of the Amorites did not yet warrant their destruction, while He dispatched Jonah to Nineveh repeatedly and brought them to repentance even though He saw their eventual destruction- the Lord remains sovereign over the nations. There is no other God.
“This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies:
“I am the First and the Last; there is no other God.
Who is like me?
Let him step forward and prove to you his power.
Let him do as I have done since ancient times when I established a people and explained its future.
Do not tremble; do not be afraid.
Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago?
You are my witnesses—is there any other God?
No!
There is no other Rock—not one!”
How foolish are those who manufacture idols.
These prized objects are really worthless.
The people who worship idols don’t know this, so they are all put to shame.
Who but a fool would make his own god— an idol that cannot help him one bit?
All who worship idols will be disgraced along with all these craftsmen—mere humans— who claim they can make a god.
They may all stand together, but they will stand in terror and shame.
The blacksmith stands at his forge to make a sharp tool, pounding and shaping it with all his might.
His work makes him hungry and weak.
It makes him thirsty and faint.
Then the wood-carver measures a block of wood and draws a pattern on it.
He works with chisel and plane and carves it into a human figure.
He gives it human beauty and puts it in a little shrine.
He cuts down cedars; he selects the cypress and the oak; he plants the pine in the forest to be nourished by the rain.
Then he uses part of the wood to make a fire.
With it he warms himself and bakes his bread.
Then—yes, it’s true—he takes the rest of it and makes himself a god to worship!
He makes an idol and bows down in front of it!
He burns part of the tree to roast his meat and to keep himself warm.
He says, “Ah, that fire feels good.”
Then he takes what’s left and makes his god: a carved idol!
He falls down in front of it, worshiping and praying to it.
“Rescue me!” he says. “You are my god!”
Such stupidity and ignorance!
Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see.
Their minds are shut, and they cannot think.
The person who made the idol never stops to reflect, “Why, it’s just a block of wood!
I burned half of it for heat and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat.
How can the rest of it be a god?
Should I bow down to worship a piece of wood?”
The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes.
He trusts something that can’t help him at all.
Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, “Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?””
Isaiah 44:6-20 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.44.6-20.NLT
“Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands.
They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see.
They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell.
They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound.
And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.”
Psalms 115:4-8 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.115.4-8.NLT
Either we embrace the one Way, the one Truth, and the only Life found in Jesus or we choose absolute darkness and the wrath of God remains on us.
“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!”
Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.9.2-7.NLT
“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you:
God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.
But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.”
1 John 1:5-10 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1jn.1.7-10.NLT
““Do not make idols or set up carved images, or sacred pillars, or sculptured stones in your land so you may worship them.
I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 26:1 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/lev.26.1.NLT
““I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
You must not have any other god but me.
You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.
You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.
I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.
But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.”
Exodus 20:2-6 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/exo.20.2-6.NLT
Open My Eyes https://youtu.be/oZsZkB-HcyE?si=1JDGJEF6jyNCFn6-
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