In last week’s newsletter, we began talking about an inspirational idea that came from a passage I was reading in John one morning, about a week ago. This idea opened up the concept of that became “The Open Loop” concept that was defined last week.
The Open Loop helps explain to us how the three members of the Godhead interact. Jesus came to show the Father to us, and in everything He did, He brought glory to the Father, while the Father sends the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, Counselor, Healer, and Guide who will lead us into complete truth. The truth the Holy Spirit leads us to is Jesus, and the loop is complete.
However, the loop is open, because we are included (if we choose to be), and our role in the loop is to move glory forward –> specifically to Jesus. We concluded by pointing out that pride has the ability to break the loop, because it stops the loop from moving forward.
Defining the Counterfeit Loop
If there is one being who knows the Loop, it is Satan. It angers and frustrates him, and there is not much he can do to stop it. However, what he can do, and what he is doing all around us is sending distractions into our lives, crowding our lives with busyness, and sending simple challenges our way — because he knows if he sends too big of a challenge, we might turn to God. Probably the sneakiest and most deceitful thing he is doing as I write this (and you read this) is setting up his own “Counterfeit” loop.
Revelation 13 talks about three symbolic creatures. The first is the dragon – a symbol for the devil, while the other two are beasts – usually representative of countries or movements of people. The first beast’s role is giving glory to the dragon, while the second beast is getting power from the dragon to force humanity to worship the first beast.
Now there are two open loops, and it is important to pick the right one, because only God’s genuine loop leads to a relationship with Him that brings eternal life. The counterfeit loop has short-term rewards with a long-term loss, while the genuine loop has unpredictable short-term rewards, or even a short-term loss, while it has eternal life as one of its long-term rewards.
Choosing the right loop is the most important choice we can make in our lives, because it determines our final destiny!
Choosing the Genuine Loop
While there are two loops, and they will look deceivingly similar, there will be key distinctions we can use to choose the correct loop.
The biggest key distinction is that God’s genuine loop will always reflect His character of unselfish love, freedom of choice, and desire for us to grow towards Him. The counterfeit loop will instead reflect Satan’s character of selfishness, force, trickery, and deceit. Satan’s primary goal for us is to be passive, following the crowd, or passionately seeking our own goals, or goals that he has set out for us. When we become unselfish about leading people to Jesus, then he gets really angry.
The best way to learn God’s character is by looking at Jesus — specifically the Jesus we can read about in the Bible. The genuine loop will always bring us towards the Jesus of the Bible, while the counterfeit loop will always try to minimize the Bible, discredit the Bible, ban the Bible, spread distrust towards the Bible, and/or discount the Bible as being relevant in our lives today.
Have we opened our Bibles and read something from it today (or even this week), or have we instead focused on a third party’s idea of true spirituality?
Supporting materials are good, but if they don’t lead us to the Bible, and if we are not in the Bible as much or more than the supporting materials, then they have the tendency to pull the focus away from Jesus, and the temptation in our mind is to minimize the Bible’s direct relevance.
The best way for us to know whether we are operating in the Genuine Loop is for us to look at our motives and our actions.
If we are motivated by self-focused ideas, self-enhancing goals, or any self-related ideals, we should ask God for help changing our motives. Instead, with the Holy Spirit’s help, we should become selfless (other-focused) and passionate about leading others to Jesus.
If our actions are aimed at building ourselves up, accumulating more things, achieving goals we have made for ourselves, or simply inaction and laziness, then we should ask God for help changing our character. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we can become filled with generosity and love-based action towards others.
Pride will lead us into the counterfeit loop, while generosity with selfless motives will lead us towards Jesus (and the genuine loop).
Which loop will you choose?
What steps will you take to help you with your choice?
If you would like, join the conversation below and share your responses!
~Cam