"I want that."

Have you ever seen the movie Napoleon Dynamite? (If you haven't and don't like mindless movies, then it's probably not the cinematic experience you're looking for.) Anyway, if you have, remember that part when Uncle Rico is trying to sell his products to a couple and he throws in that model ship as an incentive? I always laugh at that part of the movie because the woman turns to her husband and says "I want that." She could care less about what Uncle Rico was offering, she just wanted that ship!

Now, most of you who just read that probably think I'm really random for including that in this post. The truth is, I'm pretty random but I do have a point. Even though I find that part hilarious, sometimes that lady reminds me of myself. Sometimes I find myself just sitting there, thinking about all the things that I want, and if I could just have this, or if I could just be like that. You know what that's called? Lust.

Ahhhhh!! The "L" word! There's something so provocative about the word lust and I think it's because it's usually associated with sex. It's true that if you were to look up the word in a dictionary it would confirm its sexual connotation, but the reality is, lust can be applied to a greater spectrum of things.

How about you? Do you find yourself constantly adding things to your imaginative wish list in hopes that these things will bring you what you're looking for?

Let me ask you this: what are you looking for? .....

|L O V E|Peace|J o y|Happiness|Satisfaction|Approval|W o r t h| |Forgiveness| Assurance| Faith| Acceptance|?

I was thinking about my own life and how so often I waste so much time living for the gratification of my flesh and forget about the life ahead of me. The eternal one. The one where earthly desires like money, sex, fame, pleasure and success seem like cheap imitations of what true living is like. We were not made to live here forever, so why do we keep storing up our so called "treasures" in this earthly fort that will soon dwindle down into the dust? Because we live in an "I want that" mindset. We want it, and we want it now. We lust and then fight for what we believe should be rightfully ours. And most of the time we lust over things we don't even know what they're like. And if we do, a taste of it will not suffice nor quench our deepest desires and we're left on a trail filled with sin and sorrow. 

Without the hope in Christ, life on earth is nothing but a game filled with instant but short-lived satisfaction and an impossible mission of preserving a body that simply won't last. 

Matthew 6:19-21 is a great reminder of this...

 ¹⁹"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, 
 where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  
²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth 
nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  
²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

Live with an eternal perspective.

melody