{"id":651,"date":"2006-08-10T16:06:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-10T16:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2006\/08\/the-mirage.html"},"modified":"2006-08-10T16:06:00","modified_gmt":"2006-08-10T16:06:00","slug":"the-mirage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2006\/08\/the-mirage.html","title":{"rendered":"THE MIRAGE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shimmering, glimmering
Enticing to a fault
Always in the distance
Beckoning to be caught.<\/p>\n

The illusion, projection
Of what we hope and dream
Always better imagined
Not being what it seems.<\/p>\n

Leading the thirsty one
Down a dusty track
Through a blistering desert
Never turning back.<\/p>\n

Oasis, respite
Mirror or mirage
Foretaste of glory
Or desert camouflaged?<\/p>\n

Fantasies, fairy tales
Broken or borrowed schemes
Dead end ideas
Ephemeral as moonbeams.<\/p>\n

Prosperity, wealth
Beyond one\u2019s wildest dreams
Pleasure though fleeting
Glistens and it gleams.<\/p>\n

Longing, lusting
For things beyond our reach
Driving our behavior
Not practicing what we preach.<\/p>\n

Consumer, consumed
By the inner fire
Not the Holy Spirit\u2019s,
Insatiable desire.<\/p>\n

Transitory, temporary
Shelter from the storm
Something to nurse a life along
Someone to keep you warm.<\/p>\n

Like David, wizened
And his Shunammite
A beautiful young virgin
To get him through the night.<\/p>\n

Settling\u2019s unsettling
To the heart and soul
Made for everlasting love
Not fleeting human dole.<\/p>\n

Look now in the mirror
Remember what you saw
The person you\u2019ve just glimpsed
Is you in the raw.<\/p>\n

Stop praying for mirages
To suddenly be real
Stop measuring yourself
By how it makes you feel.<\/p>\n

Stop measuring your worth,
By how much you\u2019ve achieved
How much you have bought or won
Or suffered or have grieved.<\/p>\n

God loves you as you are
Though the image has been broken
Grasp the everlasting life
Not its ghost or fleeting token.<\/p>\n

BW3
Aug. 9th 2006<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shimmering, glimmeringEnticing to a faultAlways in the distanceBeckoning to be caught. The illusion, projectionOf what we hope and dreamAlways better imaginedNot being what it seems. Leading the thirsty oneDown a dusty trackThrough a blistering desertNever turning back. Oasis, respiteMirror or mirageForetaste of gloryOr desert camouflaged? Fantasies, fairy talesBroken or borrowed schemesDead end ideasEphemeral as moonbeams.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nTHE MIRAGE - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2006\/08\/the-mirage.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"THE MIRAGE - The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Shimmering, glimmeringEnticing to a faultAlways in the distanceBeckoning to be caught. 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A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}