Birthday Party Brats

If I had to guess, I would say that out of every 100 people I talk to, maybe 3 or 4 really want to figure out what life is really about, to uncover the truth no matter the difficulties. Really in essense, to change.

To change. How many of us really want to change.

This is not the same as wanting to be someone else, or to have a better job or to lose weight. I am talking about you changing. Changing the way you think, understand, behave, view the world, view other people, view money, your responsibility and your accountablity in this life. How many of us are really willing to give up something to get something better off in the distance, to make a large down payment without any immediate payback. How many of us are willing to change based on a promise of better things, but only after a time of hardship.

Are we too comfortable? Is what we are content with really that good? Do we really know what we are sacrificing in life with our apathy? Is the status quo really the best we should hope for? Do we truly see the real value of what we are holding onto so tightly?

Vague questions hey? I've got another illustration that has been on my mind to help me understand this human delusion.

Have you ever been to the birthday party of a little kid who is so insanely focused on the presents that everyone is bringing, that he forgets about the party and the people around him?

The birthday kid barely offers a glance of recognition or a thank you as he hoards whatever colorfully wrapped box comes through the door. The kid is in a crazed frenzy, constantly seeking out more presents, begging to play with what treasure he has at the cost of ignoring everyone around him. Every kind word or inquiry from someone as to how his day is going, is met with impatience and exasperation as he wonders what you brought him or where his other presents are. In essense, rather than recognizing his birthday as a celebration of his life and all who love him, it becomes a day of greed about presents and about what he has.

I think we humans tend to live life this way.

All good things come from God. I have many personal, reasonable and logical reasons for believing that that is true. And like the birthday kid in my illustration, I think we have become too focused on gifts, definitely to the point of obsession. We have lost sight of what is really important in life, we have substituted the gifts as the focus in life, instead of the gift giver.
This is a dangerous thing.

I've spoken on it before, but it is in my opinion worth repeating. God loves us and wants to give us good things, and is happy to see us happy. However, there is a great danger in making the whole point of life about the good things and about mere happiness. The danger, is in the fact that all those things in and of themselves are only suppose to be a part of life, they are not meant to be what life is all about. Food, money, cars, walking, hobbies, clothes, houses, philanthropy, generosity, romance, sex, medicine, career, fame, kids and yes even family...none of these things is meant to be what life is ALL about. They are all amazing, wonderful, beautiful things in life, but they are not to be idols, they are not sufficient or designed to be substitutes for God. None of those things in and of themselves, apart from God, have any ultimate meaning or purpose. This is a hard thing to accept. But there is a beautiful, hopeful, miraculous and brilliant loving alterative.

The alternative is this. When you put God first, and discover who he is to you, and who you are to him, you will discover that God made us to be more then we ever imagined. God made us to matter forever. God gave us the ability to live a life that matters for eternity. God enables what we have and do in life to matter! To matter for eternity! So the love you have for your child, does not only matter for 100 years or a thousand years...it matters forever! The kindess you offer to those in need, or those oppressed does not just matter for their lifetime or yours...it matters forever. The loving, sacrificial act you make that no other man or woman sees...that is done for no other reason but for kindess and love itself...is seen and remembered by God, and thus is given eternal value. Take away God from life, and all you have left is temporary, finite meaning. Take away God from life, and ultimately all you have is dust upon dust.

If all I am is a human animal, the eternal would not matter, the concept would not even exist! But God has given us many abilities and gifts, I believe, as signpost of the truth that we are made for not just this short physical life, but for all eternity. We are made for heaven.

You are made for heaven. Heaven was literally made for you. This is worth discovering. This is worth believing. This is worth asking God about.



“Humans are amphibians - half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.”
-C.S. Lewis

"Aim at heaven, and you will get earth thrown in; aim at earth, and you will get neither."
-C.S. Lewis