I HATED IT THAT I was in my thirties before I learned that “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” is a big fat lie.
I hated it because I did not know the truth before I had wasted some of the best years of my life in denial.
The implication of the catchy slogan is that I can take a walk on the dark side and forget about it when I come back to the reality of life.
That would work if I could also have a frontal lobotomy every time I leave reality, but to do so would also mean I would have to give up the good memories as well.
Ask anyone dealing with dementia or Alzheimer’s how that feels and you’ll know it sucks.
You can deny reality as easily as you can deny God, but denial will not change reality.
It simply means you’ll have some part of yourself in reality and another part in fantasy.
Jesus had something to say about this strategy: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.” Matthew 12:25
There is no question that denial seems so much better than reality, for in denial you are better looking, smarter, richer, more desirable, and more powerful than you really are.
In denial, your heart is no longer damaged by sexual abuse, neglect, or betrayal.
In denial, you can justify lying, cheating, stealing, destroying others, and what you do in secret.
Yes, escaping into fantasy seems so much better than staying fully present in a reality where there are consequences to the bad stuff.
But who did Jesus say will “pay to play” in this great façade?
It is not God, Satan, or any other person dividing you between reality and fantasy.
Denial is your own choice.
Reality says that what happened in your past will not stay in your past. You can showcase the good and hide the bad, but both are a part of you.
If you are unwilling to acknowledge the bad, you will find that the memories will not only control your behavior, but they will turn your heart to stone, until you no longer like who you are, even in your fantasy.
Ultimately, it is not the pain from the bad stuff we deny that causes our destruction, but it is the pain of hypocrisy.
We loathe hypocrisy in others and we despise it in ourselves.
The praise and acknowledgment from others for the goodness in us, in which we once coveted, now cuts like a knife, for it is overshadowed by the reality of who we are not.
If you knew the real me, you would not think me good. If you knew what happened in my life last night, last week, last year, or in my youth, you would not like me. If you knew the truth, you would not love me.
Jesus explained this Vicious Cycle when he said that anyone who tries to save his life would lose it.
There is no mortal who has not tried to save himself by denying reality and if your memories are eating you alive; your secrets are killing you; you know you are two-faced; or if you know you are drowning and cannot save yourself, take courage for Jesus offers a solution.
He already knows the real you, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the hidden parts of you.
And he loves you anyway.
So much so, that he gave his own life unto death to prove it to you.
Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. Proverbs 29:25
Luke 9:24, Psalm 139, 1 John 3:19-20, Hebrews 4:13
As always, it is my intent and hope that my words may encourage you wherever you are in your journey.
If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.–Jesus (Mark 4:23)
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