I sucked my thumb. There, I said it. My deep, dark secret is now out. I loved that thumb. It gave me security and pleasure. But my mother had a different opinion. She knew that my thumb-sucking needed to stop and she took it upon herself to end my habit. She got a product called “Thum” and coated my thumb with it. That stuff tasted bad – I mean really bad. I guess it wasn’t poison, but it sure tasted like it. It took all the fun out of sucking my thumb. The pleasure gone, I gave up a habit I loved.
“Do not love the world, or anything in the world.”
John, in his first epistle, gave us this command. It is not a hard command to understand. Do not love the world and the things that are in it. The pleasures, the thrills, the challenges, the joys of this world are not to capture my heart. Jesus told us we could have only one master. He demanded that we love God with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind. Doesn’t leave much to the imagination, does it? As the Bride of Christ we are called to fidelity and a single-hearted passion for the Bridegroom and his kingdom.
But I have a problem. I like this world. I have a wonderful family, a great job, a nice house; I have a great life. I have never had to miss a meal (it shows). I am (moderately) healthy. There are things going on in this world that I don’t like, but all in all, I have it pretty good. It is was too easy for me to fall in love with the joys, pleasures and rewards that are offered by our world.
I hate that word “all.” It messes everything up. If you ask me whether I love the Lord, I will look you in the eye and say yes. Do I love him with my mind? Absolutely. With my soul? With my heart? An unequivocal yes. But Jesus didn’t leave it there. He demanded that I love God with ALL my heart. Honestly, I cannot look at you and tell you that I love God with my whole heart, that no other passion enters my soul. There are too many things going on in this world that tempt my heart away!
So, I have an “all” problem
Perhaps this is one of the great blessings that comes our way during times of suffering and pain. Last year I waded through some very deep waters of discouragement. I wanted to run away and hide. I remember a time about 25 years ago when I would look through the classified ads every Saturday trying to figure out how I could feed my family if I threw in the towel on this whole preaching gig. The joy was gone from life in this world.
But an interesting thing happened during that time of suffering and discouragement. I found myself longing for heaven, truly desiring to see the Lord face to face. It is not that I was contemplating suicide; it was just that when the thrill was gone from this world it became much easier to focus on the one to come.
Suffering has many purposes in our lives, too many to list. But could it be that suffering often acts as God’s Thum? To those of us who have that bad habit of loving a world God told us not to love, God puts the Thum of hardship on our lives to break our attraction to this world and the things in it. When hardships come, this world seems less inviting and it is easy to look to the power and grace that God brings to sustain us and the glory that lies ahead.
Romans 8:18 gives a great word of hope to suffering believers.
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
The redeemed have a glorious future awaiting, so glorious that it makes the worst of our suffering seem inconsequential. It is when our suffering on earth magnifies that we begin to contemplate the glories that await us. Heaven looks so much better to a suffering believer.
God gains no pleasure from inflicting pain on his children, but is willing to allow suffering in our lives to accomplish his sovereign redemptive purpose. We seldom know for certain why God allows any particular trial to come our way. But maybe, sometimes, the pain comes so that we will remember the words of the old song, “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through.”
Jesus went to cross to “prepare a place” for us in heaven. One day he will come to glorify us and bring us to our eternal rest. Here and now, we are citizens of the Kingdom of God and Ambassadors of Christ in this world.
Don’t be seduced by the things of this world into forgetting the source of real joy.
An excellent reminder, Dave.
Thanks.
Matthew 19:21 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Luke 14:33 “So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.”
Luke 14:26 “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.”
Can I have your car? (Just kidding)
So many wish these verses were never printed. Since they cant erase them, they malign them, or marginalize them, or ignore them.
A changed heart prays to be granted them.
ADAM, the key is for you to examine these verses while you are immersed in all that you know about Our Lord . . . only then, do they begin to be understood
This helps to re-focus me at those times when ‘the world is too much with us’:
“5
Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.
6
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.
7
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
(from Philippians 4)
Dave Miller,
You have done it again, a master piece. This blog brought Glory to God.
Fifteen years is a long time for a bad habit like sucking a thumb. “LOL”.
From the standpoint of 74 years of age, I can observe something else that’s not really being emphasized in a believable manner to younger folks.
In my opinion.
You get tired of everything. I am a carguy. I have always had neat cars, something over 50 I think . Porsches, Road Runners, bigblock Chevvies, hot rod S10, 4wd’s, Taurus SHO, you name it. But it got old. Now we have a Prius and for the first time in 47 years, we’re a 1-car family.
We’ve traveled a lot. So much that there’s no place we want to go badly enough to climb on an airplane to get there. Last count was, I think, 45 states and 22 foreign countries.
I spent 50 years in insurance and piled up some accomplishments which I can hardly believe myself. I’m not boasting, because we all know it wasn’t really me anyway. But the point is, it ALL gets old.
EXCEPT: The neat Spiritual things that have happened. I can remember so clearly the first time I ever mentioned something in Sunday School class .. something I’d noticed in Scripture .. to the best Bible teacher this world has ever seen .. and he remarked that he’d been teaching 25 years and had never seen that before. And I realized the the Holy Ghost really does show stuff to people who really want to know.
I can recall as if it were yesterday, standing in front of a Sunday School class in a Boys’ Prison in Plainfield, IN, in 1968 and sharing the plan of salvation. I hadn’t intended to do that .. it’s really funny how I ended up there .. but 6 kids prayed, despite the fact that I didn’t know how to DO that. I will carry that memory vividly to my grave.
And the same thrill just keeps going today, and keeps getting better and better. I told my class Wednesday that when Moses stood by the burning bush, he was struck by the fire and the fact that it burned but did not consume. That’s how I think we know it’s God’s fire. It burns yet builds.
Whoa. Chased a rabbit there. Oh well….
I never tire of reading your comments, BOB, rabbit trails and all, better and better . . . and may you go on forever from strength to strength
here’s a ‘Hobbit’ trail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME5urFBf0kk&feature=related
Dave,
I’m going to have some adjusting to do since this Sunday is my last two services as pastor of my church.
In sixty years I have never seen the ocean, one of my members said I ought to see it. I just don’t know, I saw on television that the sand was hot, and the water was salty, and the people looked brown as fried chicken. I heard that clumps of oil washes up onto the beach. Why would anyone want to see something like that, much less experience it.
Now, going to the lake to fish is my cup to tea. I am looking forward to it.
Hopefully, I will be able to cut down on a little suffering.
I think we all have the all problem.
The thumb thing . . . Not so much