Chutes, But No Ladders

 

I dreamed that I was staying in a large city where many themed resort hotels were close together. I thought it would be an interesting outing to travel from one to the next and to explore the sights in each hotel’s lobby and common areas.

There was a tram departing from outside the hotel where I was staying, so I hopped aboard and got off at the next stop, which appeared to be a flight-themed hotel. I entered what seemed to be an airline cabin, with typical passenger seats. As the “plane” took off, I realized that there was no lift-off, only a side-to-side lurching as the cabin sped along a serpentine track.

Once we had stopped, I got out and was surprised to find myself on the platform of what appeared to be an amusement park ride, with open-sided kiddie cars strung together. There was no way back to the plane and no other way off the platform, so I scrunched into one of the cars and grabbed onto the rail just in time as it launched into motion.

After a very short horizontal distance, the ride plunged downward at breakneck speed, so fast that the pit of my stomach jammed into my throat. Finally it stopped, slamming me forward, and I doubled over for a moment before I could stagger to my feet and out of the car.

Breathless and shaking, I realized I had been gone from the hotel way too long and needed to return as soon as possible. But there seemed to be no options other than to get back in another kiddie car, which also appeared to be on a steep track even further downward and away from the hotel. There were no escalators, elevators, or even stairways to return to the higher level where I had left my hotel.

I was relieved to see a uniformed man whom I assumed to be the transit police.

“Is this the subway?” I asked, pointing to the kiddie car, then realized how ridiculous that sounded.

He rolled his eyes, then feigned concern that only came across as patronizing condescension.

“Ma’am, where is it that you want to go?”

“Back to my hotel.”

“Which one?”

I realized in horror that I had no clue about the name of the hotel where I had been staying. He rattled off a list of names, none of which sounded familiar, until he finally suggested “Blue Hotel.”

“That’s it!” I exclaimed. “How do I get there?”

But he only shrugged his shoulders and bustled away, leaving me to awaken in a panic.

As I considered the meaning of the dream, I remembered a trip to Las Vegas during which my husband and I enjoyed taking the monorail from one hotel to the next and walking around each hotel, admiring the unique décor, architecture, attractions and shopping of each one. We had joked that it was like walking around the world, traveling from New York, to Paris, to Venice (Bellagio), and ancient Rome (Caesar’s Palace), all in a single day.

But we knew that we were still in Las Vegas and hadn’t really gone anywhere, for each hotel was a cleverly staged illusion to lure the visitor (and potential gambler) to spend more time there. For the same reason, there are no clocks or even windows within these hotels, so that the gambler loses contact with time and even with reality as he keeps trying to beat the house.

As born-again Christians (John 3:3-8) who have been saved by trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6), we must be careful not to be distracted by earthly, temporal things and thereby lose sight of our eternal destiny (Colossians 3:1-2).

My husband and I don’t gamble, and there was nothing wrong in enjoying the beautiful, lavish and picturesque interiors of the hotels we visited, but if we had lingered too long, it might have become a distraction from our real purpose for going to Las Vegas, which was to share our dance ministry at a hotel where we had been invited to perform.

Leaving the hotel in the dream proved to be disastrous, as each segment of the bone-rattling journey brought me further away from where I needed to be, to the point that I felt I could not return. Each conveyance was merely an imitation of true forms of transportation. These reminded me of the train in that famous episode of “Twilight Zone” that always circled back to where it began, preventing the protagonists from escaping, for it was merely a toy in a dollhouse village owned by a giant child.

In the board game, “Chutes and Ladders,” players advance up the ladders based on the roll of the dice, but then without warning may slide far down a chute. In the dream I was actually trying to return to my starting point, but each ride carried me not only further away, but also further down. The ride was deceptively level at the beginning, then suddenly vanished down a dangerous precipice, reminding me that we are most likely to slip and fall when we are prideful of our good standing (Proverbs 16:18; 1 Corinthians 10:12).

Ultimately I was so far away that I no longer even remembered the name of the place where I was staying. The world and its power structure are of no help in returning us to God’s plan for us (Matthew 6:24), as was evident in the dream by the lack of any way to travel upward, and the indifference of the transit policeman.

On our Christian journey to the mountaintop of heavenly rewards, we sometimes fall backward and slide down, but the climb is always still there, waiting for us to resume it.  Thankfully, our brothers and sisters in Christ can help us struggle to our feet, and God Himself is there with outstretched arms, just waiting for us to take the first step (Ecclesiastes 4:9; Proverbs 24:16; Psalm 136:12; Galatians 6:1).

The hotel where I started my dream journey was called the Blue Hotel, the color perhaps signifying royal garments of the priesthood and furnishings of God’s temple (Exodus 26-28; 35-39; Numbers 4,15; etc.). These may symbolize the heavenly places where we are seated in Christ even while walking this earth (Ephesians 1:3; 2:6).

In common parlance, the phrase “blue skies” refers to smooth sailing and good times without interference from storms. As Christians, our sure hope (Hebrews 6:19) in eternal life in Heaven gives us spiritual blue skies, namely the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7) and joy in His salvation (Psalm 21:1; Isaiah 61:10).

Yet the word “blue” can also mean sad or depressed, for even as Christians we are not immune from sorrow. Even Christ Himself was a man of sorrows, well acquainted by grief, yet by His stripes, or suffering, we are healed (Isaiah 53:3-5). The only other Scripture reference to “blue” is in Proverbs 3:20:

The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.

This verse is a sober reminder that when we stray, our loving Father God will chastise us, sometimes through His still, small voice (1 Kings 19:12), but with scourging or physical pain if the spoken Word is ineffective (Hebrews 12:6).

May we set our affection and sights on heavenly things above and not be brought down by the things of this world! May we be vigilant to hear and do the will of our Father, ever climbing upward until He takes us home, and seeking His strength and guidance when our errors bring us to the pit of the valley!      

© 2019 Laurie Collett 

Reposted from the archives

Beauty Is In the Eye of God

 

Beauty Is In the Eye of God

With today's overemphasis on physical beauty, especially in the wake of Valentine's Day and entertainment awards boasting celebrities trying to outshine one another on the red carpet, it may be time for a reminder that God's view of beauty is far different from ours. I thought it would therefore be fitting to repost the article below. 

When our Pastor’s wife asked me to speak at our ladies’ banquet on the topic of “Beauty,” I must confess that the first thing that popped into my mind was not particularly spiritual. It was an episode of Twilight Zone from the sixties called “Eye of the Beholder,” told from the viewpoint of a young woman who had just undergone extensive plastic surgery in an attempt to look “normal.”

The bandages had not yet been removed, and her time alone in the darkness brought to mind vivid and painful memories of being mocked, bullied and humiliated because of her appearance, and even of having children run away from her in terror once they saw her face.

At long last the surgeon unwraps the bandages, as if he is peeling through the layers of an onion, while explaining that this would have to be their last attempt, for none of her previous ten surgeries had been in the least successful. It would be dangerous and futile to try any further. If this last surgery didn’t work, she would have no choice but to be sent away from mainstream society, to live in a small colony with a few other unfortunates who looked like her.

As the last layer is shed, the doctor shakes his head, turning away with a shudder of revulsion. The nurse cries out in horror before composing herself and handing the patient a mirror. Tears stream down the patient’s cheeks, but to our surprise, the image in the mirror is what we would consider beautiful – symmetrical and well-proportioned features, large eyes, classic nose, full lips, and smooth, flawless complexion.

In shock we see that it is everyone else who is “ugly,” with grotesque, misshapen, asymmetrical faces, pig-like snouts, and scales instead of skin. Truly beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and our definition of beauty is highly influenced by cultural norms. In the sixties, when Twiggy was the star of fashion models, the ideal of beauty was epitomized by the familiar saying, “You can’t be too rich or too thin.”

But across the globe, in Mauritania and other African nations, young girls were (and sadly, in some cases, still are) being force-fed a high-calorie diet to fatten them up before marriage, as obesity was considered a sign of wealth, maturity, high social standing, and female attractiveness.

There are many Biblical references to human physical beauty, but Scripture does not define it. Rachel (Genesis 29:17), King David while he was still a young shepherd (1 Samuel 16:12), Bathsheba whom he later desired (2 Samuel 11:2), his son Absalom (2 Samuel 14:25), Queen Vashti (Esther 1:11), and her successor Queen Esther (Esther 2:7) were all called beautiful, but their looks are not described in detail.

We do know that David was “ruddy,” or rosy-cheeked, and Absalom had long, thick hair and was free of any blemish (2 Samuel 14:25-26). Even gray hair is considered beautiful on the head of an old man (Proverbs 20:29), perhaps because it represents the wisdom of experience, which is more beautiful than gold or jewels.

Proverbs 8: 10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.

11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.

Today the passages in Song of Solomon in which the Bridegroom extols the physical virtues of His beloved, and vice versa, seem almost comical to us. Describing teeth as a flock of sheep, hair as a flock of goats, or temples like pieces of pomegranate (4:1-3) is not prime material for a Valentine or love letter of today.

Was Jesus, the holy Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), physically attractive? The prophet Isaiah said that He had no beauty that we should desire Him, yet this was in the context of His excruciating death on the cross, in which His body was bruised, beaten, bloodied and marred beyond recognition. 

Isaiah 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

But in the account of Jesus teaching in the temple as an adolescent, we are told that He continued to grow in stature and in favor with God and with man (Luke 2:52), suggesting that He was physically attractive.  As He was the perfect, sinless Son of God (Matthew 14:33; 16:16) and the physical representation of the Father (John 10:30; 14:7-9), I believe that Jesus was beautiful in His earthly form.

Scripture says that the Lord is beautiful (Psalm 27:4; Hosea 14: 4-8; Zechariah 9: 16-17), and that the branch of the Lord, namely Jesus Christ the Messiah, is beautiful and glorious (Isaiah 4:2). Revelation tells us that He is glorious in power and in majesty, seated on His throne like a precious jewel radiating brilliant rainbows of shining light! (Revelation 4:2-3).

God created the universe, and it was very good (Genesis 1,2). We can only imagine its pristine beauty before it fell under the curse of sin (Genesis 3), yet even now we can see God’s creativity, glory, power and majesty in the beauty of His creation, whether in the colors of a sunrise, the vastness of a starry night, or the microscopic detail of a leaf or even of the cells and atoms themselves (Psalm 19:1).

The adjective “beautiful” is used to describe the priestly garments of Aaron (Exodus 28:2, 40), the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 3:6; Ezra 7:27; Psalm 96:6; Isaiah 60:13) the nation of Israel (2 Samuel 1:19; Isaiah 52:1), Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:12) and Mount Zion (Psalm 48:2; 50:2). The name of one of the gates of Solomon’s temple, where Peter healed a lame man, was also Beautiful (Acts 3:2,6,10). These have in common the quality of being set apart, sanctified, or made holy for God’s service (Romans 15:16).

Accordingly, as Scripture confirms, the holiness of the Lord is beautiful, and we must worship Him in the beauty of His holiness (1 Chronicles 16:29, 2 Chronicles 20:21; Psalm 29:2; 96:9). We cannot be holy on our own, for all have sinned and come short of His glory (Romans 3:23). We can receive the holiness of Jesus Christ only once we are saved by trusting in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way (John 14:6) to Heaven.

As we shall see next week, only then will we see beauty as God sees it, and be beautiful in His sight!

© 2019 Laurie Collett

Beauty Is In the Eye of God

When our Pastor’s wife asked me to speak at our ladies’ banquet on the topic of “Beauty,” I must confess that the first thing that popped into my mind was not particularly spiritual. It was an episode of Twilight Zone from the sixties called “Eye of the Beholder,” told from the viewpoint of a young woman who had just undergone extensive plastic surgery in an attempt to look “normal.”

The bandages had not yet been removed, and her time alone in the darkness brought to mind vivid and painful memories of being mocked, bullied and humiliated because of her appearance, and even of having children run away from her in terror once they saw her face.

At long last the surgeon unwraps the bandages, as if he is peeling through the layers of an onion, while explaining that this would have to be their last attempt, for none of her previous ten surgeries had been in the least successful,. It would be dangerous and futile to try any further. If this last surgery didn’t work, she would have no choice but to be sent away from mainstream society, to live in a small colony with a few other unfortunates who looked like her.

As the last layer is shed, the doctor shakes his head, turning away with a shudder of revulsion. The nurse cries out in horror before composing herself and handing the patient a mirror. Tears stream down the patient’s cheeks, but to our surprise, the image in the mirror is what we would consider beautiful – symmetrical and well-proportioned features, large eyes, classic nose, full lips, and smooth, flawless complexion.

In shock we see that it is everyone else who is “ugly,” with grotesque, misshapen, asymmetrical faces, pig-like snouts, and scales instead of skin. Truly beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and our definition of beauty is highly influenced by cultural norms. In the sixties, when Twiggy was the star of fashion models, the ideal of beauty was epitomized by the familiar saying, “You can’t be too rich or too thin.”

But across the globe, in Mauritania and other African nations, young girls were (and sadly, in some cases, still are) being force fed a high-calorie diet to fatten them up before marriage, as obesity was considered a sign of wealth, maturity, high social standing, and female attractiveness.

There are many Biblical references to physical human beauty, but Scripture does not define it. Rachel (Genesis 29:17), King David while he was still a young shepherd (1 Samuel 16:12), Bathsheba whom he later desired (2 Samuel 11:2), his son Absalom (2 Samuel 14:25), Queen Vashti (Esther 1:11), and her successor Queen Esther (Esther 2:7) were all called beautiful, but their looks are not described in detail.

We do know that David was “ruddy,” or rosy-cheeked, and Absalom had long, thick hair and was free of any blemish (2 Samuel 14:25-26). Even gray hair is considered beautiful on the head of an old man (Proverbs 20:29), perhaps because it represents the wisdom of experience, which is more beautiful than gold or jewels.

Proverbs 8: 10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.

11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.

Today the passages in Song of Solomon in which the Bridegroom extols the physical virtues of His beloved, and vice versa, seem almost comical to us. Describing teeth as a flock of sheep, hair as a flock of goats, or temples like pieces of pomegranate (4:1-3) is not prime material for a Valentine or love letter of today.

Was Jesus, the holy Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), physically attractive? The prophet Isaiah said that He had no beauty that we should desire Him, yet this was in the context of His excruciating death on thecross, in which His body was bruised, beaten, bloodied and marred beyond recognition. 

Isaiah 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

But in the account of Jesus teaching in the temple as an adolescent, we are told that He continued to grow in stature and in favor with God and with man (Luke 2:52), suggesting that He was physically attractive.  As He was the perfect, sinless Son of God (Matthew 14:33; 16:16) and the physical representation of the Father (John 10:30; 14:7-9), I believe that Jesus was beautiful in His earthly form.

Scripture says that the Lord is beautiful (Psalm 27:4; Hosea 14: 4-8; Zechariah 9: 16-17), and that the branch of the Lord, namely Jesus Christ the Messiah, is beautiful and glorious (Isaiah 4:2). Revelation tells us that He is glorious in power and in majesty, seated on His throne like a precious jewel radiating brilliant rainbows of shining light! (Revelation 4:2-3).

God created the universe, and it was very good (Genesis 1,2). We can only imagine its pristine beauty before it fell under the curse of sin (Genesis 3), yet even now we can see God’s creativity, glory, power and majesty in the beauty of His creation, whether in the colors of a sunrise, the vastness of a starry night, or the microscopic detail of a leaf or even of the cells and atoms themselves (Psalm 19:1).

The adjective “beautiful” is used to describe the priestly garments of Aaron (Exodus 28:2, 40), the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 3:6; Ezra 7:27; Psalm 96:6; Isaiah 60:13) the nation of Israel (2 Samuel 1:19; Isaiah 52:1), Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:12) and Mount Zion (Psalm 48:2; 50:2). The name of one of the gates of Solomon’s temple, where Peter healed a lame man, was also Beautiful (Acts 3:2,6,10). These have in common the quality of being set apart, sanctified, or made holy for God’s service (Romans 15:16).

Accordingly, as Scripture confirms, the holiness of the Lord is beautiful, and we must worship Him in the beauty of His holiness (1 Chronicles 16:29, 2 Chronicles 20:21; Psalm 29:2; 96:9). We cannot be holy on our own, for all have sinned and come short of His glory (Romans 3:23). We can receive the holiness of Jesus Christ only once we are saved by trusting in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way (John 14:6) to Heaven.

As we shall see next week, only then will we see beauty as God sees it, and be beautiful in His sight!

© 2019 Laurie Collett