Let’s Pretend

Kids live in a make-believe world. A million Shaquille O’Neal’s slam-dunk mini-basketballs into hoops five feet off the ground. Little mommies snuggle life-like infants, karate kick-boxers mow down enemy hordes, and Indy 500 drivers careen through neighborhood sidewalks. It’s the pretend world.

Nothing goes wrong in this world. No one lies, cheats, steals or disappoints. Nobody gets hurt. Pretend world daddies always come home, mommies always kiss away the bumps and scrapes, and problems always get solved.

Adults leave this pretend existence behind and grow to embrace the real world—-right? Hardly. We would be shocked to know how many people hang onto ideas and impressions that are nothing short of elaborate coping schemes, with little basis in reality.

Consumers pretend that sex and violence, beer and liquor ads, and constant ridiculing of God and religious ideals on television do not hurt us or undermine our values.

Entertainment gluttons pretend that R-rated movies with their raw language, nudity, vulgarity, immoral plots and obscene humor are harmless.

Parents pretend that kids don’t lie, that adolescents are clueless about sexual intimacy and that teens are immune to peer pressure to drink beer, try drugs or commit immoral acts.

Some Christians pretend that church attendance, prayer, Bible-reading, spiritual conversation and quiet meditation on God lost their significance to us long ago.

Older people pretend that adult attitudes and interests have no effect on the kids, and that the younger generation will maintain faith in God even though their adult role models slip into a casual and careless kind of spiritual life.

The pretend world is always just right. A gentle breeze always blows, the climate hovers at a perfect temperature, roses have no thorns, insects don’t bite, no one speaks unkind words, enemies never seek to destroy us, and no devil tempts us. Trouble is, it just doesn’t exist. But, we keep on pretending.

My son, Ross loved horses as a little boy. Dozens of toy horses lined his room, and he always talked about going horseback riding. One summer, we put him on a live Shetland pony to ride around in circles. He hated it. He panicked and we had to get him off in a hurry. Real ponies scared him, but pretend ones didn’t.

Too many believe that the real world is too scary to deal with. We think that survival means returning to our pretend world where we can continue to believe things that are not true. This sounds alarmingly like the scripture found in II Thessalonians 2:9-12: “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” (NIV)

Can you imagine that? People will actually believe a lie! How? Could they become so used to living in a pretend world that they prefer it, even though it is obviously not according to truth? Is it possible that people who have actually heard about the anti-Christ will accept him anyway when he comes on the scene? Or, that they would know about the rapture, but will actually believe the explanations given by the world after it happens?

Too many believe that there is nothing they can do anyway. Give up. The world is what it is, and we are not going to change it. Learn to live with it. Yet, the scripture emphatically says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Too many believe that they don’t really have to give up—-just give in.”  In other words, they don’t intend to deny their faith. They just want to accommodate the radical changes that modern life has thrown at us. Now is the time, however, for us to “stand in the evil day.”

May I remind you that there is a real Jesus. He gave us a real gospel, he died a real death on a real cross. His blood, his tomb, his resurrection were real. He did this so we could have a real salvation from a real hell. The pretend bubble will not survive the coming storm. Living in denial results in catastrophic consequences.

If you’re still playing with toys and doll, put them away.  It’s time to get real.