A Treasure Deeper Than Pleasure

It’s been a while since I wrote. I hope that this is not just an intermittent post, though, but that I soon begin to write regularly again. Still, since I have not been writing, this post will not follow the normal format, and it has nothing to do with today’s daily reading (I hope at least some of you are still reading through the Bible chronologically with me this year – I’m really enjoying it).

To start with, does anyone remember that little song in the Burl Ives-starring holiday classic, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”? The snowman/narrator starts to sing about silver and gold in that warm, contented voice of his, and during the song he croons, “How do you measure its worth? Just by the pleasure it gives.”

We measure the worth of most of our treasures by the pleasure they give, don’t we?

So it’s intriguing that James writes (in James 4:1-3) about desires and the pleasure of their fulfillment so negatively:

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. (NLT)

Think about that last statement for a moment: you want only what will give you pleasure. Have you ever wanted anything that wouldn’t give you pleasure? Is that even possible?

James seems to think so. And I think we have some examples in today’s world of things we’ve wanted to do not so much for immediate pleasure as for the hope (not even always the guarantee) of great reward.

• Athletes want to push their bodies to the physical limit not so much for instantaneous pleasure, but because they hope that such discipline will one day result in competitive victory.

• Many people want to continue to attend school when it’s not required of them (e.g., college, grad school, etc.) because they hope that the not-always-so-pleasurable academic rigors will prepare them for more enjoyable, better-paying jobs.

So the next time you want something that you don’t already have, take the time to ask yourself whether what you want is just something to fulfill your desire for pleasure. If so, remember that there is a treasure deeper than pleasure—many such treasures, in fact. Sometimes I get more pleasure out of reading than out of having my reading interrupted by my three children, no matter how adorable they are. But where is my real treasure? In my personal reading time? Or in my children and the chance to help them learn to enjoy the life God’s given them?

There is a treasure deeper than pleasure, better than immediate gratification. Often, it’s a treasure we reject. But our good God longs to give us His true treasure—if only we’ll want it enough to ask.

For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.

What a House! I Mean, Except For...

ALL – Psalm 29:1-11
ALL – Proverbs 20:26-27
OT – Ezra 5:1-6:22
NT – 1 Corinthians 3:5-23

Interesting passage for the day: Don’t you realize that all of you together are the house of God, and that the Spirit of God lives among you in his house? – 1 Corinthians 3:16, The Living Bible

Thought: Some people’s houses are a mess. You walk into them and your very soul compels you to help your friend redecorate—mostly by removing all the trash and untasteful decorations you possibly can! Some houses are even worse than that. As soon as you step inside, you’re ready to step outside, tear the whole place apart and rebuild!

But no matter how much you think your friend’s house needs to be emptied, purified, rearranged, or rebuilt, you don’t touch it. You don’t even try. You might offer hints and suggestions. You might make it your personal mission to convince your friend that his house needs a facelift. But beginning the project yourself, against your friend’s will? That’s off limits. That’s transgressing. That’s overstepping your boundaries. It’s not your house! What you don’t own, you don’t remove, redecorate, or rebuild. You have no right! Keep your hands off!

You are God’s house, if you live by faith in Jesus Christ, His Son. You are God’s house. And He is very particular about His house. He doesn’t want anyone to remove you. He brought you into His house, He made a place for you, and He wants you to stay. But don’t get too comfortable yet! You have to understand that God feels the same way about every single person in His house—even the people you can’t stand! That strange guy who makes you feel creepy, that uppity woman, that snotty brat of a kid. The church micro-manager, the church crybaby. That lady who thinks she’s so smart, That guy who makes the most embarrassing jokes. The town hypochondriac, the village idiot! God wants them, even if you ache to throw them out like trash! God loves them! God treasures them! Jesus Christ died on the cross after excruciating punishments, and do you know what His reward was? His reward was to build His house. He picked the materials. He picked the decorations. He included the parts of the house that look fantastic to you, and Jesus included the ugliest knick-knacks in His house, too.

When you’re in God’s house, don’t go looking to reject anyone you find there. You don’t get to redo, redecorate or rebuild. It’s God’s house, and you’d better get used to it. In fact, you’d better learn to love it.

Question: Do you have a hard time accepting some of God’s people? How can you move your heart from where it is now to loving and cherishing all the people included in God’s house?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

No Honor at Home

ALL – Psalm 39:1-13
ALL – Proverbs 10:10
OT – Leviticus 13:1-59
NT – Mark 6:1-29

Perhaps you have experienced this. Your sibling’s pretty normal. They’ve been pretty normal forever. You’re used to them. You usually don’t listen to a word they say. But then one day, they say something amazing. Or perhaps they do something amazing. Something you know you should admire and honor. But they’re your sibling. So you overlook what they’ve done. You shrug it off, ignore it, perhaps even mock your sibling a bit and say, “Oh, (s)he’s not really that great. I remember when…”

Why do we do that?

There weren’t any stories people could tell about Jesus that would actually paint Him as a “bad boy when He was young.” But perhaps He made a few mistakes in the process of trying to learn carpentry. Perhaps He messed up a few orders, perhaps He was clumsy at times, perhaps He was usually a bit dirty and wearing second- or third-hand clothing given to His family by other families whose boys outgrew the clothes of their youth. We don’t know all the reasons that people in Jesus’ hometown thought of Him as just a normal young man. But He certainly didn’t get much respect.

“He’s no better than we are,” they said. “He’s just a carpenter, Mary’s boy, and a brother of James and Joseph, Judas and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” And they were offended! – Mark 6:3, The Living Bible

When people think you’re normal, they don’t want you to act special. But Christian, you are special! You are a child of God. You have the eternal Word of God in your mouth and in your heart. You have the eternal Spirit of God living in You. And so you have something special to offer your neighbors, something that can make them special, too—something that has the power to bring them into the Family of God. You’re carrying a treasure around in you.

Just remember as you seek to share that treasure that’s in you… You don’t look like a treasure any more than Jesus did. For sure. Don’t expect people to treat you with tons of respect and appreciation. In fact, they might try to fight your claims to have the very words and Spirit of God in you. After all, you look like they do, you sound like they do, and they might even be able to outwork, outplay and out-think you. That’s ok. Just keep seeking to share that treasure. A prophet may have no honor in his hometown, but that doesn’t change the fact that, “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Cor. 4:7, NIV).

Oh, and one more thing. Let’s look at other believers as people full of God’s treasure instead of acting surprised when they come up with a good idea or an amazing insight into the Scriptures. Believers should recognize believers as people worth knowing and spending time with, people who have a close relationship with the Creator.

How have you misjudged God’s people and avoided giving them the honor they deserve?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Buy It!

ALL – Psalm 18:1-15
ALL – Proverbs 4:1-6
OT – Genesis 41:17-42:17
NT – Matthew 13:24-46

What would you do for a million dollars? That question has generated some interesting answers over the years—especially when the person asking the question is serious about giving his million dollars away.

We all love the thought of finding hidden troves of treasure. Finders keepers, right?

And yet we find the thought of eternity with Jesus boring?

What’s up with that? People imagine winning a million dollars and their eyes glaze over as they go into a private world of imagination and daydreams. But when those same people think of eternity with Jesus, they respond with a blank stare.

Eternity with Jesus in the Kingdom of heaven is going to be unfathomably more beautiful, more exciting, more comfortable, more fulfilling, more challenging and more satisfying than anything we could do with the entire world’s wealth! No wonder Jesus told this parable:

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure a man discovered in a field. In his excitement, he sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field—and get the treasure, too! – Matthew 13:44

Let me know how God’s been teaching you to treasure a future with Jesus.

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.