But It's Shiny!!

As a child with big, open and wondering eyes, when your Mum tells you not to touch that big shiny object, it doesn’t make sense. “Why wouldn’t she want me to touch that pretty shiny silver thing?” Now, as a child you have two options… Number one, trust that your Mother knows best. Or number two, decide that you as a child know what is best, and are much wiser than your Mother, so you touch the silver shiny thing.

Of course, you go with number two, because you know best. When Mum isn’t looking, you reach up, and touch the shiny object. It takes a moment, but you all of a sudden realise that this shiny object, is extremely hot. You pull your hand away as quickly as you can. Then you proceed to run back to Mum with a burnt hand from touching the boiling kettle, realising that she does in fact know best.

I don’t know about you, but there have been so many times in my life when I fixate on this silver shiny thing, reasoning to myself, it doesn’t look that bad, in fact, it looks shiny and pretty, how could God not want this in my life? I mean, He does want the best for my life, right? This must be something that He would want me to have! I ignore all the obvious signs, I ignore the fact that God so clearly knows so much better than I do. That He knows everything. He knows the consequences that I cannot see, and haven’t even considered. I forget that I can trust Him, and that I should trust Him.

I was talking to the Year 7’s last week about sin. How sin begins by us focusing on ourselves, and what we want or what feels best right now. Which, of course, results in us losing sight of the bigger picture. We lose sight of God, the people around us and what is best in the long run.

I wonder if, for Judas, it started that simply. If one day, he was thinking about finances, and thought about how much he had given up to follow Jesus. Maybe he began thinking that he deserved more, that he should be rewarded financially for what he was doing. But he missed the part where the reward is a heavenly reward; eternal life with God, in a perfect world is such an amazing reward. There is nothing in this world that can even come close to comparing! In losing sight of the long run and focusing on the here and now, maybe Judas decided when turning Jesus in, that he was simply getting the financial reward he felt he deserved.

My encouragement for you this week is to know, throughout everything that is happening in your life this week, God cares, He loves you, and He can’t wait until we all get to be together forever. With no more death, pain, or tears.

This world is temporary, but our friendship with God, that is eternal! God is literally the definition of a best friend for life, and He has your best interests at heart! Focus on him, and not the shiny silver distractions.

Miss Born

6:58