Lack or Lavish?

 
In the Parable of the Four Soils, Jesus warns us about our hidden treasures that will choke out any chance of us living fruitful lives:

“… but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” —Mark 4:17

Last week, we looked at “Life’s Worries” as well as “The Deceitfulness of Wealth, riches and Pleasures.” This week let’s dig into “The desires for other things.”

How would you answer these two questions?

“If only I could have … then I would be happy.”

“When I get there … then I will be happy.”

1. “If only I could have … five million dollars on which to retire – or that bigger house or second home– or that car or boat or hunting farm.” You can fill in the blanks, if you are willing to be self-aware and transparent.       But whatever those treasures are in your life, they are typically “more of what I have,” or “better than what I have.”

That, my friend, is not the path to Jesus’ “Life to the full.” As Tom Waites sang, “Two dead-ins and you still have to choose.” ¹

2. “When I get there … “When I get married – or divorced. When my children are grown, or out of the house, or have finished college, or married. When I retire – When I have grandchildren. When I, when I, when I.”

One day you will die with your “When I’s.”

This is all a feint from Satan. Look at what he did with Adam and Eve in the garden. God had surrounded them with an incredible paradise, replete with luscious trees, overflowing with delicious fruit.

The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”—Gen. 2:9, 16-17 (bold added)

Notice that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was in the middle of the garden, and notice Adam and Eve could eat from any and all the other trees. That means Adam and Eve had to walk through that unbelievably beautiful and lush garden, surrounded by God’s lavishness, to get to the one thing they couldn’t have. That is what Satan did to them, and what he is still doing to us.

He distracts us by saying, “Look over here at the lack in your life – (away from God’s lavish gifts). But God, our loving and compassionate and caring Father, reminds us:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us.—Eph. 1:7-8 (bold added)

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!—1 John 3:1 (bold added)

What are you waiting for? “When I?” “If only …?” Look at the lavish, not the lack. Get on with living! Relish every minute. Look around you. Are you not the most blessed person on the planet?

May you learn to see the lavish of your Heavenly Father, and ignore the … supposed … lack Satan wants you to see. Because you are indeed surrounded by his lavish love and grace.

1. Fumbling With the Blues