"More" Madness

Do we ever really need more? The picture above is from a time when I bought another leather jacket. Not a new (although it was), but another. We all do it: we trade one thing for the next, we add on to the excessive, and especially in America, we think that bigger is better. Eventually, it becomes maddening.

If you find yourself identifying with this concept then fear not, because you're not alone in this. I do it, you do it, and people in the Bible do it all the time:

Adam and Eve ate the apple because they thought that they could have more than what God designed.

Abraham had to introduce the blood sacrifice because he wanted more than simply God's word.

The Law was born because Israel wanted more ways to "worship God".

David sinned with Bathsheba because he wanted more for himself.

"Church culture" gets born because people want more recognition.

Holidays that were supposed to be holy days get twisted because the flesh wants more than what God intended.

Empires are built, kings wage war, and people gamble it all away because they want more than God promises them.

Many people will tell you that money is the root of all evil, but I disagree; it is more that is the root of all evil. More power, more money, more influence, more pleasure, and on and on it can go because we make the mistake of falling for the Devil's lies that tell us that any way other than God's is going to hold even more good, than the great that God can provide, if only we can trust in Him.

God tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light because He has a plan for us that rivals any "more" that this world may offer (Matthew 11:30 and Isaiah 55:9). C.S. Lewis said it well noting that, "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

There is a whole ocean waiting for us, that is more than we can ever imagine, if only we are willing to get out of the mud. That job, that tradition, that relationship, that accomplishment, that desire will not make your mountain of mud any greater than it already is no matter what the Devil may tell you.

In turn, when we allow that madness of more into our lives, we remove the room that's necessary for the Lord to work in our lives and grow us. It's the exact same thing as me and my leather jackets: if I keep buying jackets, but never remove the old, unnecessary ones from my life, then all I will end up with is a cramped closet. So do it: clean out the cramped closet of life, of your heart, of your mind. Make room for the things that matter, and remove the things that don't.

Will it be hard? Absolutely. Unlearning any lie, embracing anything new, making any kind of change will be hard. I have loved every jacket I've owned, just as I have loved everything of this Earth that pleased my flesh, every tradition and distraction that man has made, because they were all good, but the cleansing that comes with removing the things that matter is when things get great.

The madness, the more, the unnecessary, takes away from finding what our purpose is. You want direction in life? You want purpose? Then start by getting passionate about the lessening.

Start by giving up the good, and embracing the great that God can give you.

Here's to the spring cleaning...

-Emma

"Be fearless in pursuit of what sets your soul on fire."