“Stick your hands up before I shoot you!” My hands went up quickly – all the way up. “Bang! Bang! Bang!” went the play-like gun shooting me dead. This was an early childhood event between my son and me as we played army, cops and robbers, or something down that line. For a time David played the part of Indiana Jones. It might have been that I was apprehended by Indiana Jones and since I was the bad guy that got caught, I had to pay. I will always remember that event when I was told to “stick your hands up before I shoot you.” Traditionally, sticking ones hands up is a sign of surrender so one will not be shot. However, when the perception of an eight year old is that sticking one’s hands up is a necessary action prior to that eight year old shooting you, you are definitely in a lose-lose situation! It’s all in perception. That is similar to the young boy asking his Mom why policemen always cause car accidents as they drove past an accident that was surrounded by police cars. The Mom asked him where he got the idea that policemen always cause accidents. The boy said, “Because every time we see an accident, policemen are always there. “ Another similar line of reasoning is the time I got lost in the woods as a kid – with a compass in hand. I reasoned that if I went in to the woods going north, I will come out of the woods going north. I remember figuring that out with the reasoning that if you go into a room through a door, you will come out of the room through that same door. I did come out of those woods – due north at the next little town, with a long walk home via the road.
Immature and erroneous reasoning can leave us lacking or can get us into trouble. It is the same in viewing the Word and operation of God on the earth today. If our view is only through our limited experience and immediate influences, then we go without or fall into a trap. We miss what God has for us. It is when we lay down our cherished perception of things and just take the Word and operation of God at face value, and say to God, “Lord, change me into that which you desire me to be according to your Word!” When we truly lay our lives at his feet and invite him to have his way completely, we better buckle our seat belt because we are in for a ride. When the Lord Jesus gave his all for us spirit, soul, and body, he did it to bless us in spirit, soul, and body, and in every way. Mature thinking believes and embraces and yields to that. Children play with toy guns with erroneous perceptions. Mature soldiers carry the real thing and deal with a real enemy to bring true liberation.