SAND CASTLES AND PAPER EMPIRES
We lust after the deceitfulness of riches. We get entangled in the cares of this world.
We place value in the types of friends we have. But what all of these things are actually doing is choking us from the breath of God. The part that is hard for me to wrap my brain around is the fact that none of us, are free from the tides of these traps. The tide will always come back in. That is a fact. The lies will always find a crack in our foundation to creep through with intention of entangling us in yet again another choke hold, with the goal of complete suffocation and separation from God. I know this can sound dark, and a little harsh, but it’s real. It’s truth, and we all need this reminder, including me. Unless, we allow the spirit of God to flow with power in us, raising up a standard against the things of this world. We are simply inept on our own.
TAKE NO THOUGHT FOR YOUR LIFE
Matthew 6:25 says take no thought for your life. We are to be careful for one thing only in our life, our relationship with the Lord. We carry around so much more than we’re supposed to. Our only job is focusing on Jesus, and he takes the cares of this world and the specific troubles of our lives and he takes care of it. It’s handled. Jesus says we are not to have concern for our life, but concern for him. He has concern for our lives, he knows our circumstances and he’s got it covered.
ONLY GOD CAN DRIVE THE DARKNESS OUT OF OUR HEARTS
It’s the part of our heart that has an insatiable hunger for empty and broken things. It’s the part of our heart that concerns over all things it’s not supposed to. We build paper empires and sand castles, but the problem is one gust of wind or small rainfall and it’s all gone. It’s all perishing. It’s all unstable ground to build on, yet we do. We place our hope and trust in something that is crumbling. And when it does, it’s devastating. The after math is bad. We are changed forever, our perspective takes a shift and we begin to operate out of fear. Fear becomes the driving force in our pursuits. Fear creates cracks in our hearts, and the ick creeps in, and then eventually pours out in our day to day life.
THE PART OF ME THAT I HATE
There is this part of my heart that I hate. It’s not the warm, loving, selfless part. No, this is the part that we RARELY speak of. The icky part. This part of my heart responds irritably to my family, it desires materialistic things, it judges, condemns, and even at times thinks it’s god. It thinks negatively, it’s cynical, untrusting, and cruel. It’s impatient with strangers and it is dishonest. I realize I am not exactly painting a good picture of who I am as a person, but the reality is every one of us has this ick in our hearts.
“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can understand it?”
Jeremiah 17:9
When we really examine what scripture says, Our hearts are undeniably crooked. The only One who can see what is really happening in our hearts is God. We become professionals at masking what is really going on, with this false image of who we wish we were. This “idea” of perfection, it’s exhausting. The worst part is the “ick” is still there and it’s leaking from us.
IT AFFECTS ME WHEN I OPERATE FROM THE ICK
When I operate from this icky place in my heart, I feel it. The aftermath of a brief moment of ick goes on far longer than I am comfortable with. There are even times where I am literally taken down for days because of my behavior in response to something difficult in my life. I cry out to the Lord “who is this person?” I hate this person, I want nothing to do with her. Why do I go there? Why do I act this way? I don’t want to be like this…
In Romans 7:15 Paul says “I do not understand what I do, for what I want to do I do not do and what I hate, I do.”
Even Paul, who wrote the majority of the New Testament confesses his struggle with his behavior. We cannot understand it, but it’s real. In every single one of us.
WHEN THE ISSUE GOES BEYOND AN ICKY HEART
The issue can potentially go far beyond this icky heart. The icky heart does not intimidate God. He can handle our filth, as long as we are willing to let him convict and correct us. The bigger issue is those who are unaware of the wicked in their hearts. There are people that feel like this does not apply to them. They see themselves as good people, who do the right thing always. If this you, hear me when I say, you are NOT exempt from this condition of the heart. There is a blinder covering eyes, and these people….are dangerous. I’ve dealt with a handful of these people throughout my life. In fact, it was all I attracted for many, many years. It was like I was a magnet to these people. I bring it up a lot to those around because if I’m being brutally honest, it’s everywhere. Everyone is broken and empty, we are all filling up that emptiness with something.
Are you filling it up with yourself, or Jesus? Like I said above, we build paper empires and sand castles, the point is when we build our lives on these unstable grounds with self serving intentions, we are filling up with ourselves. It’s so easy to do. It’s easy but it is not stable.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Ezekiel 36:26
-KC