Day 2531 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Luke 12:34 NIV

We've been talking a bit about all the things we want and how getting our way is such a common desire in life. We live in a world that teaches us to believe that we know what's best. There's a kind of hubris in this place that is truly blinding. It gets us all wrapped up in what we want and keeps us from seeing or considering anything else. And that leads to all sorts of struggles when those dreams of ours inevitably go unfulfilled.

It's a hard thing to even begin to consider letting go of what we've spent perhaps years dreaming of. It's hard to imagine a life that doesn't unfold according to the plans and visions that we've had. It's a truly strange feeling when you start to realize that maybe all this stuff that has long seemed so important may not be what it's been made out to be. Maybe all of these worldly material things and even our picture-perfect future isn't the end-all be-all goal that we should be focusing on.

Personally, this has been something that I've been experiencing or thinking about for a while now. There's a line in TobyMac's newest song that pretty much describes the way I've found myself feeling over the past few months. "I've long laid down my grand illusions, lookin' toward the day that I'll be home." Just don't know that it could be said any better!

All of us have these ideal lives in mind. The perfect job. Starting a family. Cushy bank accounts. Huge homes filled with countless possessions. Walls covered in achievements and accolades. Years of success and glory and honor and prestige. But, to repeat a line from yesterday's post, it's all building our lives on the sand with a rising tide. It's all more temporary than we could, or perhaps would ever want to consider.

Friends, these lives are just one part of our story. This is a warm-up. A sneak peek. A limited-time trial. A stepping-stone to what comes next. The fact is that these lives, our dreams, our worldly achievements and material possessions will pass away. These lives we're living don't last forever. Even if we manage to get everything we've ever wanted, it still stays behind when our clocks stop ticking on this side of eternity. So maybe we shouldn't be living like our years on this ball of dirt are all that matter.

Maybe we should be a little more willing to think outside the box of our dreams and desires. Maybe we shouldn't live in fear of not seeing every dream or goal fulfilled. Maybe instead we should worry about spending our lives focused only on what we want only to miss out on preparing for the next leg of our journey. Maybe we shouldn't hold so tightly to these lives in this world with all this stuff around us that we can't grab hold of what comes next.

I've personally found myself growing to appreciate the fact that many of the goals and dreams I've had for my life will never come to pass. It stings a bit. It hurts a little knowing that that perfect picture I'd painted may never come together. But coming to terms with all that has helped me realize that it doesn't have to because our reward isn't found on this earth or in these lives. Our reward is bigger and lasts far longer than this temporal existence that we're walking out right now.

I don't want to live my best life now. I don't want to gain everything I've ever wanted because I know chasing that goal will only blind me to the bigger part of this picture. I don't want to build a lavish castle only to leave it behind someday. No, I want to live knowing that the best is still ahead. I want to be able to remember that God's promises are better than my dreams. I want to live in this excited expectation of something better than I could ever begin to imagine.

We are free to live like these lives in this place are all there is. We're free to chase every bit of glimmering gold that we could ever possibly want in life. But I don't want to reach the end of my life and go out worried about my version of perfect that I'm suddenly leaving behind when I can't take any of it with me. I want to reach the end happier and more excited than ever before knowing that I've reached a reward that is just beginning, and that will last for all eternity.

This world will never run out of treasures that it is just convinced are vitally important. But we can't allow our hearts to be contained in things that gather dust and fall apart and are left behind one day. Our true treasure is in Heaven and no matter what this world tries to say, there's nothing here worth forgetting that.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold