I recently witnessed two children combine to win a whopping 5 stuffed animals from one of those money-sucking claw machines. After their conquest with the one-buttoned joystick they laughingly said to each other, “That machine wasn’t a rip-off at all!” Would the next kid that walked up share the same success? Probably not. Seasoned gamblers know this fact all too well.
But isn’t it funny when we find pleasure in things of this world with no immediate repercussions we think, “Hey, there was nothing bad about that! In fact, I enjoyed it!”
So since we found satisfaction in earthly pleasures once-upon-a-time we allow ourselves to go back for more at a later date. And we eventually find that no matter how many times we plug a dollar into this world’s machine looking for joy…it just AIN’T gonna happen dude! It’s temporary. It’s fleeting. And it’s never enough.
Hopefully, we can be “stuffed” so full of God that the desires of this world fade away. Only He can give us everlasting love, assurance, peace, fulfillment and purpose.
Beware! Not my typical stuff. Crazy thoughts about self-deception. It’s a string of thoughts, don’t quit reading too soon:
Those who lie to themselves make it easy to have pity on themselves. How? Because if you constantly lie to yourself then you can alter anything you wish into truth.
So when something that is actually truthful pops up and really hurts your feelings (because truth hurts), then you can feel sorry for yourself. What to do next? You lie to self in order to cover over the truth.
So it’s a double-bonus! You get to pity yourself, and you get to believe your lies! And an added sweetener is that there is no regret or remorse for having ever lied to begin with. Why? Because it was all solved by what you’ve grown accustomed to doing…LYING TO YOURSELF! So now you’re comfortable because your good friend LIE has taken care of everything and you actually believe it!
And in the meantime, Satan giggles as we deceive ourselves of our true spiritual state. God, please reveal to us through your Spirit when we lie to ourselves.
Man I woke up hungry today! There was some added excitement by the fact that I had a new box of Wheaties calling my name, but I was hungry. That of course got me thinking about my hunger for more of God and just thought I’d throw down some of my thoughts:
- We are all created with an inner hunger for God whether we ever acknowledge that it’s Him our soul desires or not. It’s part of His imprint on His creation.
- I hunger for more of His life-giving Word, but in times of “self-feeding” from the things of this world I can tend to forget about God’s diet plan for my life because I’ve become so full of myself. So…
- I MUST empty myself in order to understand just how much I need Him. If I’m not hungry for Him, then it’s a hint I’ve filled myself with something else that never truly fills me anyway.
- Cheesy quote… God is the Breakfast of Champions! Ha!
- If I’m not HUNGRY FOR MORE then I’m probably trying to hang on to LESS and claim that it’s enough to get me by for the sake of not having to become more OBEDIENT to His will.
Do you have anything to add to the list? I love hearing other’s thoughts!
One of my 14-month old daughter’s favorite activities is a simple game of chase. She can be so overcome with joy and laughter that she loses any shred of physical control and just plops to the floor. As I was chasing her this evening I told her out loud, “You are so much fun to chase, Allie”.
Not only is it fun to chase my children, but they are also worthy of the chase. I take just as much joy in the pursuit as they do in the chase.
And during the chase tonight I was reminded by God of how much He takes pleasure in pursuing me. And how I should take great pleasure in pursuing Him in return. As a father I pray that my children will take delight in the fact that the God of the heavens and earth is in constant pursuit of them.
Other thoughts:
- I pursued Pat until she became my wife, and I continually pursue her. Am I pursuing Christ even more?
- I believe my daughters are incredibly valuable and worthy to be pursued only by the most incredible young men in their futures. It’s an honor to know that God sees even greater value in them than I could imagine.
- Am I encouraging my wife and children to pursue Christ?
- Awareness of God’s pursuit brings the reality that I am constantly in need of conforming to His will. And His will is so much better than my own.
I recently ran across a great article online from the National Fatherhood Initiative.
The title of the article is “10 Ways to Be a Better Dad”, and I found it very helpful and worthwhile. Most of it is affirming what you already know, but it certainly is nice to be reminded.
Follow the link above or click here.
