“But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.”
1 Timothy 6:6-8
No sooner had we arrived at our summer 2019 Ozark family vacation than I faced one of the most tragic if not laughable ailments.
My friend and I were on the hunt for some timber on which to test out my new axe. All the while as I was driving around the undulating pastures mixed with high reaching forests, I was occasionally looking around admiring all the beauty of God’s creation. It was picture perfect. Until it wasn’t!
Right as we were pulling onto a road to head back home a tiny wood or gravel particle flipped up and landed right in my eye. As anyone would do, I rubbed it trying to get it dislodged. However, what I really did was just push that foreign object deeper into my eye socket. Instantly, tears began to form and drip out of the corner of my eye. I couldn’t hardly keep it open without a sharp pain. It got worse.
We tried that night to open my eye and pour water inside the socket hoping that the water would wash it out. Nope. It just made it worse.
Needless to say, it was a painful and sleepless night. The only relief was keeping my eye closed with something cool held lightly against it. Not fun.
Finally, we went to an ophthalmologist. They ushered me to the waiting room where I sat patiently in pain. He came in, flipped my eyelid back, and with one or two sweeps of a cotton swab removed the tiny particle that had caused some pretty nasty microscopic lacerations on my eye. However, once that thing was removed, I felt instant relief. The pain was over.
How Does This Apply To Our Life Today?
While there is much beauty to be admired in God’s creation, there nevertheless remains the potential for pain. The pain is there as a reminder that this is not my ultimate home, but rather a place to enjoy, to invest my life in, and to be fruitful and multiply with the resources and lot I am given.
How then should we view the pleasures, delights, enjoyments, beauties of this earth–the creation, the people, etc.?
- As windows–not portraits–to look through to a Creator-God who fashioned, cultivates, and sustains our ability to experience with all our senses the goodness of His blessings–creation, relationships, etc.
What can happen when we view the things of the earth as ultimate?
- Depression when people don’t meet our expectations.
- Anxiety when we get stung by the failing stock market.
- Sadness when our bodies no longer function or perform as they once performed.
- Jealousy when we see others have what we think we deserve.
- Frustration when we don’t get the promotion we had planned would come by now.
So, what’s the way forward?
- To find rest in Christ.
- To find satisfaction in Christ.
- To cast our cares upon Christ.
- To turn our eyes heavenward, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
- To look for the good God is doing in circumstances to conform us to Christ.
- To walk humbly and in fellowship with God, because Christ has made it possible.
- To see that–as Charles Spurgeon says–the bitter taste of the water of affliction, when traced back to its source flows from a sweet spring situated at God’s throne and is overflowing with love, care, and oversight from the nail-scared hands of Christ.
Thus…
- To remember that God has spoken–He’s given us His Word–and I can–everyday–meet with Him.
- To encourage one another in the truth of God’s Word.
- And to ever seek the face of God in His Word.
“When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You,
“Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.””
Psalm 27:8
— April 17, 2020