What Are We Choosing To Recognize?

 

And I had written it down upon a sticky note in my office just a couple months ago.  In the middle of a challenging year I would say it:

“The devil is really recognizable right now.”

And it’s true.
It doesn’t take long to see him in the interwoven workings of our world.
And while he’s certainly not gaining ground and will not have the final word, he is evident and his work among his people IS obvious.

Take a look at the word “recognize”. It means this = "to identify as something or someone previously seen, known; to perceive as existing or true; to acknowledge, appreciate, or grant."

So let’s think about this for a minute.

The devil is really recognizable.
We can see him sneaking around every corner.
And catching a glimpse of him might mean that we are irrationally focused on the wrong thing.
Like me deciding it would be a good idea to get on social media last night during an election debate. And my heart broke for all I saw.
The devil was surely recognizable in the hearts of God’s people.

The devil is recognizable.
But I was looking at the wrong things - instead of fixing my gaze on Christ.
He was recognizable… I indeed identified with someone who had been previously "seen and known" in my own life… my life before Jesus. I was unknowingly perceiving him as "true." Maybe by recognizing him above the things that matter more, I was "acknowledging" him, and, dare I say, according to it's definition, "appreciating" him??? And perhaps I was inadvertently "granting" him control over my mind, even if only temporary.

According to the word’s definition, it’s precisely what I was doing.

The devil is really recognizable right now… but he doesn’t need to be what I see.
I can choose to see Jesus in all things.
I can CHOOSE to see Jesus in all things.
I can choose to SEE Jesus in all things.
I can choose to see JESUS in all things.
I can choose to see Jesus in ALL things.

And maybe it has to be on repeat until my heart understands.

You too?

Job 34:4 says this, “So let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.”