And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. Mark 10:22
A beautiful young woman, a friend of ours, was sick. She was suffering from Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory disease of the intestines. She had difficulty eating, was losing weight, was in constant pain, and was very discouraged. She was interested to find that I had also suffered from Crohn’s, and that I was no longer sick. She wanted to find out how I stayed well, wondering if she might get better if she followed my methods of controlling the disease. But after I explained to her how she could be free of the disease, she sadly turned away. There were too many of her favourite foods that she would have to give up. She just couldn’t see herself going on without those things that were so important to her taste buds. And so she is still suffering from Crohns. She is like the young man who couldn’t give up his riches for Christ. She is like Christians who can’t let go of the world to obtain spiritual victory in their lives.
We live in a world that has so much to offer our senses. The devil has a vast array of toys and tinsel to keep our attention. The more we read and watch the world’s stories, the less we read our Bible. The more we spend time with the pals and companions of earth, the less time we have to spend in prayer and meditation. The more places we go to find entertainment and recreation, the less opportunity we have to spend time with fellow believers around the things of God. And so it goes, we lose out on the best because we hate to give up the passing goodies of this world.
We’d all love to be better Christians, right? We’d all long to know more of Scripture and of the doctrines of our faith. We all want to have a good testimony and to make a difference for God in our lives. Why is it that we aren’t living up to what we know is God’s expectation of us? Because we haven’t lost our taste for the flavour of the world. We haven’t seen the pleasures of sin for the death-traps that God’s Word says they are. We haven’t counted all things but dung that we may win Christ.
It should surely make us sad that we have missed out on so much of God’s blessings. But we can turn that sorrow to joy by returning to His presence, and by staying there. -Jim MacIntosh