Perhaps in every generation since the beginning of time, children have played “let’s pretend.” In yesteryear, it was Girls with dolls, and Boys with toy soldiers and guns, or miniature earth moving equipment. Now it is monsters, mutated creatures, super human executioners, and other sordid purveyors of carnage, …and strangely enough, this seems to be the standard fare for both genders. And yes, there are only two genders in the realm of reality—all else is just another version of “let’s pretend.” (Genesis 1:27)
The most casual perusal through the annals of history reveals that adults are just kids in older bodies, with more experience at playing “let’s pretend.” Even among those who call themselves, “the people of God,” this childlike “let’s pretend” has often manifested itself in epidemic proportions. In the 7th and 8th centuries BC, the time of God’s prophet Isaiah, God’s people, Israel, worshipped the Lord with all the formalities prescribed in the Levitical Law, while they had forsaken God in their hearts. (Isaiah 1:10-17) Their worship was a sham, an impressive game of “let’s pretend.”
In Revelation 3:14-19, the Apostle John recorded the words of Jesus’ letter to the 1st century AD Church at Laodicea. They thought they were on the top rung of the religious ladder: rich, increased with goods, and in need of nothing. Christ told them that they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked—their religion was a sham, an impressive game of “let’s pretend.”
Today is no exception; churches claim to worship the God of the Word, while ignoring the Word of God. They think that God will be satisfied with their worship, their way. They embrace yet another version of “let’s pretend.”
“What does God want?,” you might ask. “O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8).” “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalms 51:17)” “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. (Psalms 29:2)”