"It may be said with a degree of assurance that not everything that meets the eye is as it appears to be." 

~Rod Serling  

Episode 10:

Inception

www.ambassadorsforJesus5.com

     Jolted awake by the persistent buzzing of the alarm clock, Eric resisted the temptation to hit the snooze button and dragged himself out of bed. His wife Clare was away with the kids for the weekend visiting her parents. With the whole house and weekend to himself he figured this would be a good opportunity to catch up on the novel he told his publisher would soon be completed. 

     As he makes his way into the kitchen he catches the scent of freshly brewed coffee mingled with bacon. There a pot of coffee awaited him, along with the bacon and an omelet sitting in a frying pan. It was just one of many reminders how giving his wife was, even before leaving she had thought of him.

     A smile crossed his face and he silently thanked the Lord once again for his family.

     There was a time when Eric had wondered if he would ever have a family of his own. You see, just a few years back he had been addicted to pornography, a world he had built to replace the emptiness in his heart. What began as an enjoyable diversion had quickly consumed him.  Before he knew it this world he had created had become a prison instead as he found himself enslaved and captive to the lusts of his flesh.

     His former girlfriend had discovered his secret and left him. It broke his heart to see her go. His career also suffered as it consumed much of his attention and time. Eric did try to break free but its hold on him was strong.  It became a heavy burden and a source of much guilt and condemnation.

     Then along came Clare and for the first time in his life he found himself really wanting to leave his old ways behind.

     They met through mutual friends and discovered they had much in common but there was this one thing she held dearly of which he lacked. It was what drove her, she said, her passion for God. More than once Eric had asked her out but she repeatedly declined stating that she enjoyed his company yet was adamant about only dating men that were committed to Christ.

     At first the idea had angered him, triggered by unpleasant emotions from childhood memories of his parents dragging him to church. It didn’t seem right that he had to sit through a service and miss all those weekend activities with his friends. They even forbade him from playing with some because their parents didn’t share their faith.  God seemed to be full of rules and no fun at all.

     Although his past shaped his projections of God, Eric still
found himself impressed with Clare and her dedication to Him. He endeavored to learn more thinking if such a woman could be that committed to Christ, maybe there was something he didn’t know worth finding out.

     Equipped with some new knowledge and perspective, Eric accepted the Lord and made a commitment to Him. He and Clare grew closer and eventually married. His desire for pornography took a backseat to his family. With a terrific wife, kids, and his career back on course Eric’s life was complete, or so he had thought. He had even accepted the Lord, so why was He feeling this old hole in his heart?

     After breakfast Eric settled into the living room with his laptop determined to finish the closing chapters of his new novel, but he found the silence around him did nothing to inspire him and was stumped with writer’s block. Opting for a diversion, he began surfing the net hoping something there would grab his attention, spark his creativity, and he could go with the flow.

     Then suddenly a window on screen popped up and opened.  It featured an advertisement of a nearly naked, well endowed woman with an enticing look. Looking away he was going to close this window of opportunity when he heard the call to look again. “What harm could it do?" the voice persisted, “You've got this thing beat and after all, boys will be boys and it's only a look.”

     Giving into the idea, he turned his attention to her and
indulged his senses.  Then came an old familiar spark. Before he knew it his flesh was in flames and shortly thereafter like surging waves guilt and shame came crashing into his soul.  They strengthened with the increasing knowledge that he should not be doing this.  He tried looking away again but the pull on him was now stronger than his knowledge, desire, and will to resist.  It felt like he was trying to go against the current, nature had the upper hand and he didn’t find the strength to continue the struggle. 

     After it was over he sat stunned at the realization of how quickly he had succumbed to the temptation.  Eric had been confident that chapter in his life was closed and berated himself for being so weak.  Was it just laying dormant waiting for an opportunity to rear its ugly head?  Was this just an isolated incident or was he doomed to repeat the same mistakes?

     Eric tried to redirect his thoughts to the Lord and his Word but his heart felt detached from Him.  He was also distracted by the images that now flashed through his mind.  Choosing a different route, he then cried out to the Lord and confessed his sin before Him, asking Him to clean his heart and help him overcome.  A sense of peace eventually entered in then he fell asleep to a dream within a dream...

     He was at home with his family.  His wife was busily keeping home, attending to him and the kids.  Meanwhile, he was preoccupied with matters such as completing his book and providing for his family.  Busyness and concerns seemed to be the focus of this dream and then he woke from the first dream to find he was watching himself as he was that very morning. 

     There he sat with his laptop working on his novel but his mind was distracted with concerns about being able to complete it.  And then IT happened.  He heard an evil voice tell him to look at the seductive woman and indulge.  It was subtle enough that he thought the thought was his own.  As he heeded, the voice then laughed this evil laugh for it knew it fooled him into thinking it came from within. 

     Eric then woke from this second dream and just knew the dreams were from the Lord.  He knew the evil voice was the enemy's voice, subtle enough that it tricked him into thinking it was his own.  The dream within the dream was also very revealing for he knew it contained insights into a deeper issue going on with him.  With all the busyness and concerns he lost focus of those more important things, spending quality time with the Lord and his family.  It had left him feeling depleted and vulnerable as he had neglected his inner life. 

     Eric thanked the Lord for such insightful information that came without guilt or condemnation.  This helped strengthen
his faith in Him knowing He would see him through as he watched over his mind and heart and relied on God's strength instead of his own.  Furthermore, to take his relationship with the Lord beyond commitment and continue to go deeper into intimacy with Him.  This would also equip him with the offensive position of having a heart engaged with the Lord's rather than trying to gain ground from a defensive one  partaking of the knowledge of good and evil.

     Later Eric returned to his novel with a clear mind and new inspiration in his heart.  With a now completed novel, he thanked the Lord once again. 

     Romans 7:21-8:4 

    I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.  I love God’s law with all my heart.  But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.  Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?  Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

     So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.  He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Further Reading: "Inception" the movie in "Reviews", Going Deeper, Addressing the Need Beyond Sin, The Song of the Heart, Intimacy, Love, and Commitment, The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, Act IV