Baggage. We all have it! "Baggage" is the crude term for "a past". When two people meet and things become serious the baggage we carry cause "worlds to collide"!
Every human being has a "world". It's the milieu in which we live. It's our "place"; all the surroundings of each of us. Our world consists of material objects, people, social interactions, the culture and thoughts associated with all the factors. Our thoughts make "pictures" in our mind and those mental pictures are the world to which we've become accustomed. Furthermore, our genetic makeup helps to determine who we are. We are an amalgamation of all our ancestors who preceded us!
In relationships both parties bring their own "world". When things get serious then "worlds collide". The picture of "reality" in the mind of one party is not the same picture as in the mind of the other. Everybody's mental picture is different. Those pictures effect truth, personality, motivation, possessiveness, and even appearance. Scripture tells us what to do with world's which have the potential to collide:
Genesis 2:24 "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
By "leaving his father and mother" a person leaves the "world" he is part of. The husband departs for places unknown. This scripture also applies to the woman. Where does husband and wife go? They go to a "new world" with a "new picture" which is reformed by the two worlds from which they came! God tells them to do something with these two worlds. "They shall be one flesh!" The two different worlds become one. Husband and wife are to become a single entity living in unity! It's called marriage.
There's an obstacle to God's command. (Yes, I said command. It's not optional.) Satan creates a bizarro world. This world created by the great deceiver is a fiction. It's a world made up of false pictures mixed in with reality so as to confuse. Satan creates an image in the mind of the husband, the wife and maybe both of this world (earth) where each rule themselves, pleasure is the principle, and God is non-existent. This picture is so real that many fall for this bizarre picture.
God intends for worlds to meld. Satan's wish is that worlds collide! Satan throws out lies, temptation, pleasures, pride, self-worship, mistrust, jealousy, and much more to make sure that world's collide. Without the hedge provided by God in a Christian's life, world's will surely collide. If one partner lets in any darkness from the bizarro world, that "life of no light" so bizarre becomes that new mental picture. The world which ought to be for husband and wife is blurred by the darkness of the bizarro world; that world where Satan rules.
The world God created is where man and woman live in unity as husband and wife. It is now mostly in decay. This ante-deluvian type world is where we are now. That "picture" in your mind is not of God's world, but the bizarro world created by Satan after the fall of mankind. We have been deluded. We believe it to be good, but it's evil throughout because Satan is the prince of this world. The bizarro world is where we live and the picture we all have in our minds is of different bizarro worlds, each skewed to prevent unity together and harmony in living.
What must we do to live in unity and have a proper picture of our world?
Romans 13:12 "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light."
First off we are to escape from the bizarro world where darkness reigns. By putting "on the armour of light" we are changing the false picture we have which Satan has created to a picture of truth; called light. Jesus is the light of this world. If we follow his guidance that bizarro world picture will be changed. It will be changed from a world of pleasure to a world of joy. "Fun" will assume new dimensions! What once you loved, you'll now hate! What you hated you'll now cherish. We have cast off the darkness and the bizarro world is now past.
Now that you're free of the bizarro world, you'll need to remain free!
Ephesians 6:11 "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
Just because you've let the light in doesn't mean that you're home free. The battle has just begun. There's a war going on led by principalities whose goal is to return you to the darkness from which you came. They want you back in Satan's bizarro world! They're there taunting and tempting everyone all the time, but are more forceful in attacking those walking in the light. You need the ultimate protection; the whole armour of God!
That armour is truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the Holy Spirit, and the fortitude of the saints. Your ultimate protection is to speak boldly what's truth and right!
Once you've escaped from the bizarro world, you're a "new creature" who has returned to God's world"
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
In relationships both parties bring their own "world". When things get serious then "worlds collide". The picture of "reality" in the mind of one party is not the same picture as in the mind of the other. Everybody's mental picture is different. Those pictures effect truth, personality, motivation, possessiveness, and even appearance. Scripture tells us what to do with world's which have the potential to collide:
Genesis 2:24 "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
By "leaving his father and mother" a person leaves the "world" he is part of. The husband departs for places unknown. This scripture also applies to the woman. Where does husband and wife go? They go to a "new world" with a "new picture" which is reformed by the two worlds from which they came! God tells them to do something with these two worlds. "They shall be one flesh!" The two different worlds become one. Husband and wife are to become a single entity living in unity! It's called marriage.
There's an obstacle to God's command. (Yes, I said command. It's not optional.) Satan creates a bizarro world. This world created by the great deceiver is a fiction. It's a world made up of false pictures mixed in with reality so as to confuse. Satan creates an image in the mind of the husband, the wife and maybe both of this world (earth) where each rule themselves, pleasure is the principle, and God is non-existent. This picture is so real that many fall for this bizarre picture.
God intends for worlds to meld. Satan's wish is that worlds collide! Satan throws out lies, temptation, pleasures, pride, self-worship, mistrust, jealousy, and much more to make sure that world's collide. Without the hedge provided by God in a Christian's life, world's will surely collide. If one partner lets in any darkness from the bizarro world, that "life of no light" so bizarre becomes that new mental picture. The world which ought to be for husband and wife is blurred by the darkness of the bizarro world; that world where Satan rules.
The world God created is where man and woman live in unity as husband and wife. It is now mostly in decay. This ante-deluvian type world is where we are now. That "picture" in your mind is not of God's world, but the bizarro world created by Satan after the fall of mankind. We have been deluded. We believe it to be good, but it's evil throughout because Satan is the prince of this world. The bizarro world is where we live and the picture we all have in our minds is of different bizarro worlds, each skewed to prevent unity together and harmony in living.
What must we do to live in unity and have a proper picture of our world?
Romans 13:12 "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light."
First off we are to escape from the bizarro world where darkness reigns. By putting "on the armour of light" we are changing the false picture we have which Satan has created to a picture of truth; called light. Jesus is the light of this world. If we follow his guidance that bizarro world picture will be changed. It will be changed from a world of pleasure to a world of joy. "Fun" will assume new dimensions! What once you loved, you'll now hate! What you hated you'll now cherish. We have cast off the darkness and the bizarro world is now past.
Now that you're free of the bizarro world, you'll need to remain free!
Ephesians 6:11 "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
Just because you've let the light in doesn't mean that you're home free. The battle has just begun. There's a war going on led by principalities whose goal is to return you to the darkness from which you came. They want you back in Satan's bizarro world! They're there taunting and tempting everyone all the time, but are more forceful in attacking those walking in the light. You need the ultimate protection; the whole armour of God!
That armour is truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the Holy Spirit, and the fortitude of the saints. Your ultimate protection is to speak boldly what's truth and right!
Once you've escaped from the bizarro world, you're a "new creature" who has returned to God's world"
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
As a new creature the picture in your mind changes. It has truth. light, love and respect that failed to be there in the old bizarro world. You have a new start. The bizarro world has "passed away" and your world has "become new"!
Since we're a new creature who left the prison of the bizarro world, the past is behind us. God wiped the slate clean and all that we did wrong in the past is history. It's gone to some bizarro junkyard on the the outskirts of Gehenna, that garbage dump beside Jerusalem. As Lot's wife failed to do, we have learned to never look behind. We might long for the bizarro world and linger there with that old picture too long. Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt. It will be worse for us! Paul tells us what God would have us do:
Philippians 3:13 "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before..."
Unlike psychotherapy which teaches us to deal with the past, God tells us to forget the past and live for the future. We never want to revisit that bizarro world of frustration and deceit. We are to have a new picture; a picture of us living righteous with Christ. That's the new world for a new person. "New Worlds" when protected with the whole armour of God, no longer collide. These worlds of husband and wife are the same Godly picture and have the same purpose; to please God and live in harmony as one!
World's colliding not only refers to unity in marriage, but harmony in living with a single purpose. We can go way back to the prophet Isaiah for more instruction:
Isaiah asked the Jewish people to look forward and put the past behind. He told of God's reward and that provided hope for the people. "Hope" is the name of the new world picture that God puts in the minds of the righteous. Not only was Isaiah speaking of God's promise to the Israelites, but a promise of the savior to come. Jesus is our "hope" and his will should color that picture which we have in the minds of the new person that we are!
When dating, a prospective flame told me "I need to go home and deal with the past." I expressed shock. "What in the world are you talking about?" I asked. She responded "The past comes in layers one at a time and people must shed a new layer before they can shed the next." Needless to say, I had little desire to date a woman shedding layers or anything else for that matter. I moved on! She's probably still shedding.
We are not to live in the past. When I did find the right woman, I made a deal with her "You don't talk about your past and I won't either." Of course we've slipped on occasion, but for the most part, we've left the past behind! Yes, we've all had less than complimentary lives. God changes things and forgets sins! We need to do that too. If we look back at the things forgiven by God we're against his will. Jesus spoke of this:
That old world we are to leave behind and "not looking back" is the bizarro world. It's the world with baggage! If you think about it, where we're going we need no change of clothes. There will be no use for baggage. Unfortunately, those who fail to lighten that darkened mental picture must carry much baggage needed to play the role contrived by Satan. Whereas, we wear our apparel, the whole armour of God, those with baggage never put it on!
Addendum: For more on the "Bizarro World" read Genesis Chapter 9 about Sodom and Gemorrah and the "Days of Noah" in the ante-diluvian period from Genesis 6. Both are histories of Bazarro Worlds. New worlds came after one world was baptised by water and the other by baptized by fire!
Addendum: For more on the "Bizarro World" read Genesis Chapter 9 about Sodom and Gemorrah and the "Days of Noah" in the ante-diluvian period from Genesis 6. Both are histories of Bazarro Worlds. New worlds came after one world was baptised by water and the other by baptized by fire!
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