Day 2530 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.
1 Timothy 6:6 NIV
I don't know if it's because it's such a short verse or if it's just how all the words flow, but this one is one of those that just always seems to be in the back of my mind. Yesterday we talked about how God must become greater while we become less. There's too much us in our lives and that causes all sorts of issues. Selfishness and greed and material gain are some of the most common yet most destructive things in our world today.
We all conveniently overlook the fact that worldly things have no real value or meaning. We think they do. We're told they do. We may genuinely believe they do. But the truth is that if we can make it then it's not really that important. As I've said in the past when discussing this topic, if it has a price-tag then it's not really all that valuable. But our world is built to consume. Want is one of the main driving forces that fuels our society. And we all get caught up in it.
We become consumed with all the things we want. We lay awake at night thinking of ways to obtain the next thing that's on our list of desires. We wear ourselves out trying to earn enough to buy something that we're just sure will bring us some happiness, or joy, or some sense of fulfillment. But it's all, as Solomon puts it, a chasing after the wind. We think we're on the trail to happiness and fulfillment in life but we never really catch it.
No matter what material possession or personal achievement we finally obtain or lay our hands on, it always leaves us empty in the end. It leaves us back on the hunt for something else. Worldly things are sold in a way that makes us think they'll fulfill every dream and every desire we could ever have. But the truth is that if we don't have joy and peace in our hearts without a bunch of stuff around us, then we'll never find it no matter how much we have or buy or find.
That's why God must become greater and we must become less. We're too prone to being distracted by things that shine. But if we don't have Him as the foundation of everything else in our lives then it doesn't really matter what we have, it's a house built on sand with a rising tide. As long as we're building our lives for us the way we want them to be built we're building in vain. We're setting ourselves up for disappointment and regret.
But when we finally broken beyond our lesser human desires and learned to humbly trust God's plans and devote our lives to living the way He calls us to live, then and only then can we finally see that there's nothing better than that. There's nothing better than His way. There's nothing greater than what He wants for us. There's nothing we can gain or achieve that can rival what He has in store if we're only willing to follow His path pursuing Him rather than ourselves or whatever this world says is important.
We can, and most will, spend our lives searching for something on this globe that finally does the trick and leaves us feeling completely satisfied in life. But only when we gain a spiritual humility that helps us fully trust in God and chase only what He wants for us will we ever be truly satisfied. Only when we're completely surrendered to His will can we finally see that His way is truly the greatest gain possible.
As long as we're in control, focused on ourselves, and chasing only what we want we'll never be able to realize that it doesn't have to be that hard. God's already found the way to every hope, every dream, every perfect version of peace that can ever be found, because He is the way. And while we may be convinced that we know what's best for us, what He wants for us is even better than what we want for ourselves.
The bottom line is that we'll never be content trying to build a life for ourselves according to what we think is most important in this world. True contentment is only found when we let go of what we want and trust God to lead us to the promises that He has in store for those who follow His path rather than their own.
Comments
Post a Comment