Our True Master

I sit here and I struggle on how to begin this blog. I have wanted to write this for some time, but something impeded my progress every time. It is now known to me what that debilitating force was……………Cowardess. “Wait did he really just say that? Did he just call himself a COWARD?!” Yes…yes I did, just one of many, “Dirty Little Secrets”. You see I’m writing this because it has hit me close to home as well. As Christians we claim that Jesus is our Lord and our master, but it is quite evident that there is another entity that guides our hands, another force that many don’t want to admit, but a force that masters us more then we allow “our Lord” to. We as Christians in America have become Cowards! We hide behind facades and aliases so that we can’t be held responsible for “our” words or actions. We tolerate those who would demean, slander, and hurt others behind a pseudo personality. All because they are afraid of the consequences of their actions, consequences they have no desire of dealing with.
We rather hide behind a Twitter persona and give them power over us, then handing our “dirty little secrets” over to the ONE we claim is our Master and Lord. American Christianity says it’s ok to be a Coward, as long as you don’t portray that in public. Please share your thoughts about others to the world; just don’t let the world know it is really you. We would rather be comfortable then see God bless us in our discomfort. We want to have blessings upon blessings from God, just without the blood, sweat and tears, put into years and years of doing the Lords work. We trade the anointing power and knowledge of God Almighty, for humanly power, and the knowledge of private issues of those around us.
Since when has Christianity been about self gain and exultance? Is not our mission to do the Lord’s work? Is not our goal to bless the Lord with our actions and speech? Is not this life a life that is to be completely surrendered to Jesus? If so, we can not be completely surrendered to Jesus if we are still mastered by a cowardly spirit. If you have not read into my “dirty little secret” by now, then let ME share it with you. For years I have found it easier to associate and befriend those that don’t claim to have a master in Jesus Christ. I’ve had a hidden fight inside towards people claiming to be “Christians”. Why is that? Simply…..for the reason I am writing today (and I include myself first off in this!!!!!). We as Christians in America rather hide behind pseudo realities and hurl slanderous words towards those we see fit. But those that don’t claim to have what we have (relationship with Jesus); don’t seem to have that problem. They will tell you (in detail) everything they think about you. But I guess since we claim to be followers of Christ then we have to wear those masks and costumes and masquerade as if we have no issues with any human on the planet. I guess that is what Jesus died and rose again for. I guess that is what he really requires and commands us to do.
Ill be it, it may be hurtful to have a face to face “discussion” (blow up) with someone. But let us walk through this. I blow up in someone I know or a friend’s face and tell them all the things I think about them or feel about them. We both get angry at the other person, possible storm off and that ends the confrontation. But what that does is allow room for us to return and settle things, to talk about what happened and move on.
But when I hide behind a pseudo persona on Twitter or Facebook, and begin to catapult every dark and dirty thing I’ve kept inside about everyone, all that does is cast out the net of bitterness and perversion that I’ve been trapped under all this time. We say to ourselves: “it’s better that “I know ya’ll” then for you to really know me.” And it seems that we as American Christians would rather have the latter.

So I must examine myself…. I must ask the hard questions.


Am I a COWARD?


Who REALLY is my MASTER?

A Book and its Cover

As I made my way to work today that popular phrase came to my mind. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I can remember times in my life when I was judge simply for the way I looked or dressed. I can also remember times when I in turn have formed judgments about others simply for outward attributes. I thought about this and realized that those covers that individuals choose to place on themselves tell the observer a lot and nothing at the same time.

How many times have I pick up a book, and simply because of the illustration (or lack there of) I decide that that book is not worth investing my time in. I don’t know if any of you have done that, but for me that is the story my history tells. If the outward attributes (the things I can see) don’t intrigue me, then I keep moving on in search of something to place my time and effort into. This can also be applied to our relationships (or lack there of). We meet, or see someone for the first time and it’s like picking up that book. If the outward attributes that person has chosen to clothes them selves with (the way they dress, how they carry themselves, their hair style…etc.) don’t intrigue us or draw us in, then we simply move on and say, “That person is not worth investing my time in”.

So what is the point of “not judging a book by its cover”? You see the cover of a book doth not make the book. A cover may tell you a few thing, perhaps one main event in the book, perhaps the author of the book or perhaps it doesn’t tell you anything at all (blank covers). Only when we jump into a book and read each word on each page can we fully understand what a book is about. Each page gives us a small amount of the intricacies of what that book is trying to convey to us. Only at the end do all those intricacies culminate to paint a picture of what the author wanted us to read, and why a specific cover was chosen (if one exist).

By judging others merely on outward attributes, we neglect and pass over the opportunity to jump into the pages of their story, to read each word on every page of their history. We never get a hold of the intricacies of their life that culminate at the present time and allow us insight on why they have chosen to place on themselves the specific cover they wear and we possibly miss out on an opportunity to make a life long companion in this life. I have a friend now that I thank God I was able to meet, even though our judgments of each other would have never allowed us to create the friendship we have. When I first saw Nick, my judgment of him was nothing less then negative and I received a like judgment from him. I thought he was one of those people I try to stay away from, because they irk me too much (It can also be said that he thought the same of me.) But by chance a few years later we ended up on the same traveling drama team. This gave us the opportunity to get to know one another (whether we wanted to or not. Let’s just say I should have kept driving the van…haha….sorry if you don’t know what I’m talking about). Once we relinquished our past judgments of each other we realized that there were some chapters of our live that had similarities. And now I can say that Nick knows more about me then anyone of my other friends. That type of bond can not be created through passing judgment on glimpses of ones “cover”. The only way to build a close bond, a tight relationship is to get past the cover and dive into the words and pages of someone history, what story do they hold. What does that story tell you about the cover they have chosen to wear?

A book may have its cover, and the cover may be extraordinary, but what really matters is what the pages of that book hold. What story do they tell, what history will unfold as the pages begin to unfold and turn. The answer to these questions can not be found simply by judging the cover; rather one must dive into every word on every page. Only then will everything culminate and you will see the true picture that author is trying to convey.

By Isaac A Valentin