Smoke and Mirrors
As we put 2014 to bed most of the awards and accolades for the year have been presented. The most recent sobriquet, which will no doubt be recorded in our collective history, “The Year of the BUTT”. Yes, you read it correctly, Year of the BUTT! Last year was the year an overwhelming amount of attention was focused on the human buttocks! Another example of smoke and mirrors, where’s your focus?
Just in case you are not aware of all of the attention focused on the hind parts of women during 2014, Google the word booty, when I searched there were 178,000,000 results. Included in the results are various videos, songs, photos, articles, and comments about the voluptuous, bountiful, buttocks being real or fake. The Year of the Butt, indeed!
The amount of attention being focused on the topic of bottoms is mindboggling to me. There are so many issues that are of greater importance and impact. The entire year labeled, the Year of the Butt!!
Smoke and Mirrors
One of the best ways to avoid detection is to create a distraction and avert attention. Illusionists use smoke and mirrors to direct their audiences focus where they want it in order to create a false perception of true events. While the illusion is being created to entertain, this tactic is used for less positive reasons. It is effective in deceiving someone and masking the danger of actual events.
The master deceiver, whose duplicitous actions began in the Garden of Eden, uses this strategy continuously. If we are focused on the size, origin and abilities of a physical body part we miss what occurs on a spiritual level. When we direct our attention toward satisfying the lusts of the flesh we spend time and energy engaged in nonproductive activity.
Perhaps the size, suppleness or dexterity of butts, yours or someone else’s is not what distracts you. It could be you were not sizing up gyrating rears all year. Neither was I. Our particular category of smoke and mirrors may reflect more diversity than that displayed in the Year of the Butt. Your distraction may be in the form of: the newest technology, latest episode of a reality show, largest diamond, Facebook, Instagram, a new vehicle or the latest news on TMZ.
There is a commonality amongst this diversity. Whatever the category, each of us has our own form of smoke and mirrors designed to distract us from the reality present before us. The truth of God is being obscured when we are distracted by the smoke and mirrors.
Count the Cost
We are either moving forward toward our desired goals, or we are moving away from them. As we are distracted those goals move further out of reach. We are to run the race toward those goals with patience. Can you think of any accomplished runner that achieved their goals by being distracted? Our Creator has provided us with The Manual to ensure we are successful as we participate in the race.
The father of lies and deceit would have us to believe that it does not matter what we focus on. One of his best tactics is to cause us to believe that there is no harm in focusing on the outward appearance. It seems like the right thing to do. In the word we are warned, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12 KJV)
The snares placed by the great deceiver are real. They are here to cause our demise. However, the truth of Almighty God is that we can overcome the distractions by putting on the full armor of God. Review Ephesians 6:11-18 to see how we can clothe ourselves to withstand the wiles of the devil.
Pray soberly. Seek God’s guidance about where you should focus your energy. Surely there is nothing inherently wrong with any one of our body parts. God lovingly made us. Yet how we use those parts and what we choose to focus our minds on is significant to God, and His word is filled with directions on how we can live our best life.
Take Inventory and Take Action!
Love,
Deborah
“Lighting the path to loving your neighbor as yourself.”