The concept of the "red pill" in the 1999 film “The Matrix”. A hacker named Morpheus offers a choice to the film's protagonist, Neo, to take the blue pill, where "the story ends, you wake up in your comfortable bed and believe whatever you want to believe", or to take the red pill, where "you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbithole goes." - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Working in the industry that I work in and the communities that I serve, I have seen society deteriorate at a disturbing rate that is hard to keep up with. I believe that it may be due to our “need for speed” or in other words, our desire for instant gratification. This is the world of the blue pill. It makes you comfortable and life extremely convenient but it also supresses the truth. It's a false reality.
The red pill is truth. Can you handle the truth?
We live in an age of technology and convenience. As a child, I remember when we had to get up and turn the knob on the television, turn the dial on the rotary phone and if we needed to communicate from a distance, we probably had to handwrite a letter and send it through the mail. We had to wait for a video or cassette tape to rewind in order to watch or listen to it. If we needed to do research, we actually had to go to our local library and look through the index catalogs. We would cook our food more times than not, work a paper route to get something as small as a pair of Converse and more than half of my friends came from two parent households. Today, we have remote controls, plasma T.V’s, cell phones, laptops, internet, email, iPods, fast-food, prescription drugs, Google and single parent households are the normal family structure. We even want instant salvation without picking up the cross and the burden of carrying it.
So you may be asking, “How does this relate?”
When everything is at our fingertips, some of our most precious and valued fruits of the spirit are suppressed such as patience, contentment and gratitude. Not only does it suppress those virtues, but it also breeds bad character traits such as anger, selfishness and shallow desires. If we sit in traffic too long, we scream and shout. If the internet isn’t fast enough, we get irritated. If we have marital troubles, we file for divorce, if we don’t watch our step and trip in a grocery store, we file a lawsuit.
We live in a world where everything can be upgraded and replaced. The billboards, commercials and music lyrics surround us with messages of materialism and encourages us to upgrade. If you don’t like it, upgrade. If it gets old and boring, upgrade. If it requires too much maintenance, upgrade.
Instant gratification pours over into relationships and finances. Don’t believe me?
• We have the highest Bankruptcy filings ever in U.S. history.
• We have the highest Foreclosure rate ever in U.S. history.
• We have the highest Divorce rate in U.S. history.
• Single parent household count for 40% of all families in the U.S.
In January 2009, Apple made one of the highest net profits in history. If you remember this time period, it was also a time of economic disaster. Although our neighbors, families and friends were unemployed and on the verge of homelessness, we still bought iphones and ipods. It makes me wonder where the next generation is heading. If you don’t know how to wait on anything, how will you ever learn about patience, contentment and gratitude? At the rate of the bulleted stats above, I’m afraid two parent households and personal accountability will be a thing of the past. Satan is busy at work. With the second arrival of Christ, he is attempting to fill our heads and spirits will unnecessary clutter and noise to distract us from Christ.
He will not stop until our homes are filled with materialistic designer clothing that we cannot afford yet our home and our neighbors home is in foreclosure, our children are fatherless and we care so much about instantly gratifying our desires, that we forget that we are servants of Christ.
I encourage you this week to take a look at your life. Are you content or are you always looking for the next best thing? What is more important to you? A home full of “things”or heart full of joy? Are you falling into Satan’s trap or are you following the footsteps of Christ?
Excerpts from the Matrix:
Morpheus: Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Neo: The Matrix.
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?
Neo: Yes.
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.
“Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another.” Ephesians 4:25
Have a blessed week!
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Katrina Green
President
Butterfly Ministries, Inc.
Take a Stand. Spread the Word. Save the Butterflies ♥
"It is the mission of Butterfly Ministries, Inc. to empower and inspire positive transformation in girls and young women by encouraging them to take a stand against gender exploitation and to give rise to a historic revolution."
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