If I were to look around me and see all the natural disasters, the conflicts, poverty, abortion, and taxes– the things in life that are wrong, and be worried and concerned that things were not all that they should be, and then try to find a solution, I would be just like every other religion or movement in the world, because I’m trying to improve a fallen world.
If I were to see how human love is not what it should be, that life is bitter and full of frustration, that everything we build to last does wears down, that even if you eat healthy and stay fit, you still die– and worry about it and try to think of what I or others were doing wrong, what we should do to make it perfect, then it would just prove that I am like everyone else on this earth, wrapped up in the flesh and the temporary.
And so I do. Time and again. It just shows that this world really isn’t all that there is. It just shows that there was a really good reason for Jesus to come down and live in our shoes, then suffer and die to pay our penalty. The fact that I am concerned with the state of this world shows that so often my eyes are full of the temporary. It just shows that though I am perfected forever, I’m still being sanctified, not yet glorified. I am still in this flesh, waiting to be with the Lord. It just shows that there is more than all of this. It proves that I am not home yet.
It proves that God is the one who fills all in all; Christ is the bodily fullness of the Godhead; He is the image of the invisible God. This dissatisfaction with life just shows that I am in need of a Savior, and it shows that all these things are here to point us back to Christ, that our thirst is meant to be fulfilled in pursuit of Him. Do I seek the blessings or the One from whom these blessings come? Do I strive for more health and wealth or do I just sit at His feet out of love for Him? Do I pester Him for blessings or do I rejoice that He is my portion?
I need to remember these things in my day-by-day activities so that I don’t get weary or distracted.
Amen. I think about that daily, how the world is falling apart, yet God, the only thing that truly never changes, is on my side. Distractions are everywhere, but reality lives in us as we abide in Christ. Such a blessing.
Amen! Great reflections post, Alice!
I used to get consumed with anger and frustration by reading the news. All the crazy things going on. I would worry a lot. I would try to think of things in order to fix this or that. I had to let it go because it was controlling my thoughts a lot. Now when I read the news, I may get a little upset but nothing like I used to. Now, I remind myself that God is in control.
Great post!