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A Sleeping Narcissist

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Jonah 4:9-11 And God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the loss of the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die!10 Then said the Lord, You have had pity on the gourd, for which you have not labored nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons not [yet old enough to] know their right hand from their left, and also many cattle [not accountable for sin]?

All Jonah cared about was himself and his comfort. His self-centeredness went so deep that he turned a blind eye to the possible deaths of 120,000 children. What’s really interesting regarding this passage is that God not only cared for the cruel Ninevites, and their children, He also cared for the cattle that would die if He brought judgment and destruction. But not Jonah.

In the 1980’s the psychological designation of narcissus began to pick up popular, cultural steam as it entered pop psychology designating someone we used to categorize as self-centered. Sunday, August 24 I googled the question: What do you call someone who stubbornly refuses to change their behavior? I was surprised by one of the articles I discovered. It stated: “People with narcissistic personality disorder are extremely resistant to changing their behavior, even when it’s causing problems.”

What is repentance? Change. First it begins with an acknowledgement that you have missed God’s Perfect Way of Love. Next it culminates with a change of mind which leads to a change in lifestyle. Elul is a time of conversion and repentance in order to seek God.

Jnh. 1:5-6 – Jonah refused to have his mind changed – refused to be teachable – regarding his responsibility for his neighbors. How many messages have you heard, repeating the same theme, that you have refused to change your mind, behavior, actions or attitude about? Are you Christ-centered or self-centered in your lifestyle and actions? Is it possible to be a follower of Jesus and still remain a narcissist? Are you teachable? Is your thinking aligning more with the truths of God’s Word and the example of Christ than the lies of this world and popular culture? Has your thinking and lifestyle been changed to be more in line with Jesus and His Word in the past year or would others state you have remained relatively the same?

Jnh. 1:6; 2:1-2 – Jonah had become faithless in prayer – choosing sleep over praying for his neighbors. Jesus told Disciples – Followers of Jesus – to watch and pray. Would you characterize your spiritual life as watching and praying? Do you watch and pray with Jesus? Do you have a daily quiet time with the Lord? Do you sleep while a small minority remain faithful in prayer? Are you sleeping while third world countries and believers are spending sleepless nights in prayer? Are you spending time in leisure while brothers and sisters around the world faithfully pray as they face the threat of death, rape, persecution, torture, beating and imprisonment? What does your prayer life reveal about your faith?

Freedom From Religion

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The Prophet Ezekiel provides a stern warning for all who claim to be spiritual shepherds of God’s people prophesying: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, even to the [spiritual] shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the [spiritual] shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The diseased and weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the hurt and crippled you have not bandaged, those gone astray you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought to find, but with force and hardhearted harshness you have ruled them. 5 And they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild beasts of the field. 6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill; yes, My sheep were scattered upon all the face of the earth and no one searched or sought for them. Ezekiel 34:1-6 AMPC

The Bill of Rights of these Untied States guarantees the free exercise of religion – but it does not guarantee the freedom from religion. Religion without a relationship with Jesus is what crucified Him in the first place (and still does). Religion is self-centered, and self-focused, on the self-effort of “do-it-yourself” adherents. Religion is rutted routines without Life or Substance. Religion puffs up its adherents with pride having knowledge void of experience. Religion generously measures its own performance while stingily judging the efforts of others considered inferior and lacking. Religion, according to Genesis 3:19, is plowing the fields for your own bread while eating it in the sweat of the curse of the knowledge of good….AND evil.

Christmas reminds us of the Good News declared to the first shepherds, and echoed in Ezekiels’ prophecy: Therefore will I rescue My flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 And I will raise up over them one Shepherd and He shall feed them, even My Servant David; He shall feed them and He shall be their Shepherd. 24 And I the Lord will be their God and My Servant David a Prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. 25 And I will confirm with them a covenant of peace….Ezekiel 34:22-25

Has God Fallen Asleep?

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In the 1999 movie “Instinct,” Anthony Hopkins plays an anthropologist and primatologist, Ethan Powel, who is being held in a maximum security prison for the critically insane. Cuba Gooding’s character is an ambitious psychiatrist, Dr. Theo Caulder, who is asked to evaluate Powel. At one point in the movie, during a private session, Powel overcomes Dr. Caulder and holds him in a neck-breaking choke hold. Powel (Hopkins) demands that the psychiatrist tell him what he’s lost. Dr. Caulder responds by saying, “Freedom, I’ve lost my freedom.” Hopkins character tightens his grip and says, “Wrong, Bougerious! You have one more chance to tell me what you’ve lost. What have you lost user?” Dr. Caulder (Gooding) responds like a man defeated by truth, “My illusion, I’ve lost my illusion.”

WE find another seeming illusion in Mark 4:35-38: On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

These were seasoned fishermen acquainted with the storms of the Sea of Galilee that even recently have had waves reaching to heights of over 70 feet. Why would the Disciples feel the need to wake Jesus? Could it be that they were annoyed that while they were concerned about the worsening conditions of their plight – He was oblivious, or so it seemed. To those 12 Disciples it appeared that God’s Messiah had fallen asleep during their troubles, and peril. The truth of their circumstances was that the ship was going down! Jesus, God’s Messiah, was asleep and we all are about to die. But what were they basing their confidence in: what they could perceive through their senses; their experience as fishermen; their great wisdom; their understanding of Bible promises? While meeting Jesus out in the Wilderness, outside the camp, circumstances, feelings, your physical senses, perspectives, wisdom, experience, and knowledge – may all seem to scream at you that God has passed you by; that you are distant from the Lord; or even worse – God has abandoned or rejected you.

Yet, Truth never sleeps. His body may have nodded off. But the Truth of their circumstances was that Jesus’ Spirit Man was fully awake. They simply needed to hear Truth speak, trust Him, and watch as He changed their perspective regarding their circumstances.

What do you do when you find yourself in a similar circumstance? You ask several questions of the Lord:

  1. Where is Jesus – the Truth, in my circumstances, feelings, and experiences?
  2. What is Truth doing in and through my circumstances?
  3. What does Truth have to say about my circumstances?
  4. What is the Truth of my situation based not on my experiences, or feelings, but on what the Spirit says?
  5. What is God’s revealed Word, and revelation to me about those circumstances?
  6. Pray and ask, How can I cooperate with You Lord through my circumstances? How can I be pro-active and persevere through them?
  7. What would Faith do, and where, and on Whom would, and should it be focused?

In the wilderness the test is always about: Who and what is your center? A self-centered perspective responds through self-centered values, and interests. A Jesus-centered perspective responds in and through faith (fruit of the Spirit), knowing that Jesus is the Same, Yesterday, Today and Forever. He was right next to the 12 Disciples in the boat, and in charge during the storm of their crisis of belief. He is right next to you, and in charge through the wilderness of your crisis of belief situation. He is Yahweh – the Great I AM. Not I was, nor will I be. He is the same – He hasn’t gone anywhere. So who has moved? Who or what were you looking at? What were you looking for? Let Faith arise – by the Spirit. Live in His NOW. Turn, by Faith, to look to Jesus. Move towards Jesus – through the Spirt, and His Faith.