I have "invaders" in my house. My daughter and her three children (ranging in age from six to one) are with us for awhile. Little children are perfect examples of what the sin nature looks like before we put on a veneer of morality. So I get a chance to look at human nature unvarnished.
There is, for these little ones, a singular motivation. It comes in two flavors, but it is only one concept. It is the sole method by which they determine what they will do (or not), what is good (or bad), what is acceptable (or not). It is defined by the phrase I hear most: "I want ..." Sometimes they will use the other side -- "I don't want ..." -- but you can see that this is simply the inverse of the same coin: "I want."
The truth is most of us operate under that same singular motivation. We determine what to do based on what we want. Do we want to eat what's good for us or will we eat cake? Do we want to stick out this tough marriage or will we take the path of least resistance? Will we do what we want to do or will we surrender to what God wants?
We all seem to have it, the "I want" propensity. It seems there is always a little more that is just ... barely ... outside our grasp that, like those children in my house, we think we need to be happy. "If only ..." seems to drive us in our "I wants" because, you see, what we rarely find is "I want ... exactly what I have." Even for Christians we seem to think, "If God would only give us ____, we'd be satisfied." That ____ is almost always something in this world and always something we don't have now but are quite sure, if we did, would make all the difference. A husband, a wife, a child, a job, a car, a house, something we may not have now but ... "I want it!"
A few observations for those of you who are thinking "If only ...". First, your heavenly Father knows what you need (Matt 6:32). Did you think otherwise? Second, we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor 5:20), strangers and exiles on the earth (Heb 11:13). Is getting comfortable here really of that much value? Finally, one author once said, "There's a worm in everything." This world is tainted by sin, and "all the comforts of home" aren't found here. Instead, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So ... do we want to mimic those little kids who cannot think beyond "I want", or do we want to mimic Christ? You decide.
1 comment:
Getting most of what I ever wanted in life has made "there's a worm in everything" phrase reality for me. Now I want something that has no worm-I want not to want anything that God doesn't want for me. That seems just as equally beyond my grasp. What a wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death?
Post a Comment