Spiritual amnesia

Reading John 1:10-11
"He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own but his own did not receive him."

Many movies and television programs have dealt with the theme of amnesia and the chaos and confusion that results when a person forgets who he is and no longer recognizes his friends and family members. This is exactly what we are dealing with in these verses. We are looking at a failure to recognize who made us and what we are doing here. The result is a rejection of our most important family members: our loving heavenly Father, our brother Jesus, and our closest comforter, the Holy Spirit. There is a complete network of love and support but we turn our backs on it because of a lack of recognition. This is the condition of the world in its unbelief. This is often referred to as being "lost," a term that is very fitting for the spiritual amnesiac.

These verses show that a lack of recognition leads inevitably to a lack of reception. We give the best reception to those whom we know and love the most. If I am not giving Jesus a very warm reception in my daily life I need to trace the problem back up the line. How well do I really know him? The Gospels are the meeting place and if I'm not spending time in the Gospels I begin to be afflicted with bouts of temporary amnesia. This in turn leads me to a loss of connection with my Father, Brother, and Comforter. I begin to enter into an experience of lostness where the ground seems to go out from under my feet - insecurity, loneliness, anxiety, purposelessness, come to underlie all of the normal experiences of life. At first it is only a sense, something hard to put your finger on, but left to grow it becomes a thief and a robber of the joy of life. All this can be prevented by regularly going to the meeting place and staying connected with the greatest lover the world has ever known; Jesus the lover of my soul.