The Trickster

During the midst of the hours that struggle to be identified as day or night, I was pulled awake by the sounds of screaming. I went into my child’s room and found her still half asleep yet wailing hysterically for me to promptly remove the bugs crawling up her backside.

I went to quick work looking for bugs, but no such bugs existed. Hours earlier this child had stumbled across a rather large spider making his way across the floor in the front hall. This spider apparently made his way from the front hall into her dreams. I knew it was not the same bug for he had been flushed away shortly after being discovered.

As I attempted to calm my child’s fears, I thought it was interesting that she truly believed the bugs were real in her mind. We have all heard the expression “my mind is playing tricks on me”. Originally this expression referred to our lack of memory. How we recalled a memory may not have been accurate, therefore we claimed it to be our minds being tricky and triggering incorrectly.

And the mind does play tricks. And the enemy of our mind and soul is the ultimate trickster. So, how do we discern a situation or circumstance- or memory- when our minds are being fooled?

Let us look at the origin of the word ‘common’: Koinonia is a transliterated form of a Greek word and derivative of “koinos”- the word for common. It means communion and joint participation, and identifies the idea of fellowship and unity that should exist within the Body of Christ. It is the commonality in something or someone, and the sharing of intimacy.

Colossians 3:16, Let the teaching of Christ live in you richly. Use all wisdom to teach and instruct each other by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

When it appears that our minds are being fooled, we must remember the truth that exists within us: by the Holy Spirit and the sacrifice of Jesus, we are now in communion and have joint participation in life with Jesus and a great body of believers. No man is an island unto himself but created for relationship with God and each other. We need to look at the situation through the eyes of the Holy Spirit and with the mind of Christ, asking ourselves some very important questions: Does this line up with the Word of God? Is there truth to be found within this situation or circumstance? Will my choices bring glory and honour to Christ? How will my choices affect others?

The common sense that comes with wisdom told me that a fleet of bugs at war upon my child’s back simply did not exist. Her memory was playing tricks on her for she was afraid of the spider. I was able to reason this out with my child and calm her for a spider is nothing that should cause her fear. Our minds are powerful tools that the enemy greatly desires to muddle and destroy. In a moment of unclarity, we need to stop and look for wisdom allowing common sense- the communion, joint participation, fellowship, and intimacy we have with Christ- to prevail.

Father, thank you for the gift that we have with each other as believers because of your sacrifice. May we seek wisdom and common sense through this intimacy when the enemy is using his tricks to divide us. In Jesus name, Amen.

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