“Let us seek treasure in
heaven, lest we awake to find that we are paupers for evermore.” – JC Ryle
The Lord recently gave me
a check-up that left me speechless.
Have you ever been in a
situation, an ordinary day with an ordinary conversation, and a little
something comes up and you find yourself shocked at your response.
In the words of You’ve
Got Mail, “Boom! It’s Mr. Nasty.”
I think the Lord gives us
those opportunities to show us the dust bunny sins that hide under the couch in
our hearts. The Lord recently blessed me with one of these sweet opportunities,
where Clay threw out a random idea and I was surprised at the panic I felt in
my heart. “What!! Change the way things are? May it never be! I like my life! I
like the way things are. I like what I have! No change!!!!”
And “Boom” – there was
Mr. Nasty.
My response revealed so
many flaws, among which were
- forgetting that my life needs to be aimed at God’s
glory, not my own
-
thinking I own anything
-
thinking I needed to be happy
-clinging
too tightly to the things of this world
And I am so grateful that
the Lord showed me this. I struggled and stewed and prayed, and am still
praying, confessing the idols in my heart and asking God to give me the grace
to destroy them. I’ve had to copy Paul David Trip and physically pray with my
hands open to remind myself that “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.” It is difficult not to get caught up in what
I see. I am too often distracted by what my hands can touch. My eyes linger on
pretty, glamorous things that do not actually matter.
And here is where the
need to renew my mind becomes so clear. 1 John warns about this very thing,
saying,
“Do not love the world or
the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is
not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the
desires of the eyes and pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the
world. And the World is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does
the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:15-17
As Jesus taught in Luke
9:23-25,
“And he said to all, ‘If
anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever saves
his life for my sake will find it. For what does it profit a man if he gains
the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?’”
I am always in danger of
being like the crowd who followed Jesus when they were fed, but left him
afterward. The daily taking up the cross, realizing the world and its desires
are passing away, and being diligent to do the will of God who abides forever
is a worthwhile yet constant battle. I don’t want to be deluded; I don’t want
to be distracted from the reality of God’s call on my life.
How about you? How do you
battle the tempting sirens of this world? What keeps you from being sidetracked
by earthly things?
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