Hello ICC Family!
I continue to think about life in the kingdom, and what an adventure that should be for us as Christians. Today, though, I was struck by how we so often seem to have it backwards…
We are constantly seeking adventure and excitement and newness and fun in our everyday lives. For some of us it’s through travel. I have a good friend that goes with his family to Disney World every year. And then he and his wife will go down for an extended weekend a couple of more times each year. I definitely don’t understand their love for Disney. I mean, it was fun to take my kids there and see it, but I don’t need to go back annually! We have people in our community that love to go on cruises. I am intrigued and ready to try it out, but I need help talking Laurel into it. Other people aren’t interested in travel, but they absolutely need to have the latest phone. Or maybe a new car every couple of years. Or they are constantly upgrading their home somehow. Some people throw an inordinate amount of time and money into their favorite hobbies – always wanting to get better at them and find a new way to enjoy them more. The point is that almost all of us are looking for more, and better, and new in our lives – adventure!… And we pursue this earthly adventure with a lot of time and energy and invest a lot of resources – recklessly sometimes!
At the same time… we are, for the most part, content with our spiritual lives. While we know we should be growing in our walk with Christ, we never really do anything to change. We work and plan and save for the worldly adventures but do nothing to pursue the eternally valuable. There are many reasons for this… One of them is that the payoff for making changes and investments in our spiritual life does not come quickly. Shoot, sometimes it might not even come in this life! The reward is also not as tangible as the shiny new toy – it doesn’t come delivered by Amazon and we don’t get to unbox it. In fact, the reward usually is only apparent after patiently waiting. We get hints and tastes of it along the way, but we don’t get to fully enjoy it until later. But when the payoff does arrive… it is so much more satisfying and richer than the latest trip or the new gadget. Just think about your latest upgrade – whether it was a phone, computer, car, shoes… How long did that exciting feeling last? Sometimes it is gone within the very same day!
I want to be the kind of person that is pursuing adventure and growth and newness in my walk with Christ with reckless abandon, while being content with all of the blessings that the Lord has given me in this life. That’s not to say that I won’t travel ever again or get a better and bigger TV when the time is right. Just that I want more of my physical and mental and emotional and spiritual energy to be spent in prayer and seeking the kingdom of God, than any kingdom of my own making that is going to be very short-lived. I want to be satisfied with this life and dissatisfied with my spiritual life. Let me explain that… It’s not that I expect more from God or him to bless me more than He has. He has already given me life and salvation and everything I need. No, I want to be dissatisfied in the sense that I want to know him more, and understand the kingdom better, and grow in my prayer life and in forgiveness and in evangelism… and so on. I just want to know the King better and be able to hear his voice better, so that He can use me in any way He sees fit. There will be no greater adventure than that!
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be…. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”
Matthew 6:19-21, 33
Praying for you all!
Pastor Aaron
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