Tag Archives: too easily pleased

I shall not want

 

Let’s make a list… What do you want right now? Your mind might quickly turn to a needed vacation to get away from the daily grind. I suspect many young mothers with toddlers in tow might dream of a quiet moment alone in the bathroom – without interruptions. Maybe if a friend invited you on a shopping trip, you could list several items that you’d want to buy. Or maybe your greatest want is less tangible; what you want most is peace, relief from pain, the feeling of being valued and appreciated, of hearing those tender words, “I love you.”

 

We want a lot of things, but can you imagine being in a state of mind where you didn’t want anything? Have you ever been in a place where you lacked nothing? David, the Psalmist did. Let his words linger in your mind and heart as you read them quite slowly, as if you sipping them in, treasuring each phrase. (Psalm 23)

1 “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

 

It is a psalm of comfort that soothes our painful woes. It calms us in the height of our anxiety. It speaks hope to our despair.

 

It’s said that a pastor once walked up to the pulpit to deliver his Sunday message. He opened his bible to the familiar Psalm 23 and spoke thoughtfully and clearly,

“The Lord is my shepherd…and THAT is enough for me!”

And then he sat down, alooking a period of silence for that very short message to sink in.

 

Why might having the Lord as your Shepherd bring you the very most satisfaction and contentment? Because he cares for you more than anyone else. He paid such a very high price for you and me even when we didn’t “deserve” it. His plan for us is so much better than our own, even if we act contrary to this. Even if our journey leads us to a very dark and painful place he restores our soul. In those times we most need to remember he wants to lead us THROUGH the darkest valley. He won’t leave us there alone. There are better times ahead! He comforts us as no one else can. Though we may lose everything and we feel abandoned, his mercy and love will follow us wherever we go. And perhaps most amazing…we will dwell in his house forever!

 

What about you? Is the Lord enough for you? It’s been said, “You don’t know how much you need Jesus until Jesus is all you have.” If you lost your job, your finances, your health, all your possessions, and maybe even your family, would the Lord your Shepherd be enough for you?  I think it’s a hard question to answer honestly. We’re tempted to say, “Well yes, of course, Jesus is all I need. I’m fully satisfied with him. And yet, we are satisfied by so many lesser things. CS Lewis wrote:

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered 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.”

 

It’s hard to imagine a trip to the beach or drive to the mountains being like “making mud pies in a slum” until we open our eyes to all that our loving God has in store for us! That’s the real choice we face. Let’s not be “too easily pleased” but rather seek that which satisfies most: a day focused on listening to the Shepherd’s voice and following him more closely – day by day.

 

“Day by day, oh, dear Lord, three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly, day by day.

– lyricist Stephen Schwartz, Godspell

 

 

 

The highest of virtues

 

 

What would you say is the highest of all virtues? CS Lewis contemplated that in his time most would say it is ‘unselfishness’. At the same time he contended that great Christians of the past would have said ‘love.’ And he lamented how a negative term had replaced a positive one.

What do you think of when you consider the word ‘unselfish’? Is it putting others first or is it simply denying ourselves in some sort of regimented way? While self-denial is biblical and profitable for us, it is not an adequate replacement for the virtue of real love, is it? When you fast or give up something you enjoy for a period of time, this is not an end goal. It is a means to a greater goal. Jesus said that if we wanted to be his disciples we must deny our self, pick up our cross and follow him.

Our desires are not the base problem. Repeatedly, God tells us that he longs to give us our hearts desires. He promises unimaginable rewards, in heaven and now. CS Lewis: “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 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.” (The Weight of Glory)

Let’s remember especially in this Lenten season, our ultimate goal is not to give up, but to take on the cross and thus take on the endless love of Jesus.

Easily distracted from REAL satisfaction?

How many things distract you during any given day?
Daydreams, having to check your phone every time it chirps at you (or when it doesn’t), breaking news stories, gossip, interruptions, worry, thinking about lunch plans in the middle of the Sunday message? Do you find that wayward thoughts distract you even in the middle of your prayers? (I hate when that happens. It’s like visiting with a friend and then having to apologize for not really listening because your mind went its own direction for a moment.)

Psychologists have long promoted the idea that we are all motivated by what brings us pleasure. We spend because it brings us pleasure to buy things. And we save because we perceive that will bring us greater pleasure later. We serve ourselves or we deny ourselves, we eat or we abstain, because of the satisfaction we attach to those acts.

I wonder if we are distracted from really important things in our life because we are too easily pleased with ‘lesser’ things. CS Lewis states that we are content to make mud pies in the street when we could be enjoying a vacation by the sea. Either not aware of the richness of other life activities or persuaded that something lesser will satisfy more, we too often settle for less. We KNOW eating a healthy snack or saving money would match our values better, but we settle for empty calories and spur of the moment purchases because it seems appealing at the time. Or maybe we pursue activities we know don’t match our values because we think they will appease our feeling of sadness, pain, sorrow, etc.

In this journey with leukemia, I have really enjoyed the satisfaction of reveling in God’s creation, visiting with family and friends, quality time with my wife, and quiet times with God. These are some of the best things in life. They help me to put a dimmer on pain so I can actually see the joy around me. (I said sometimes. It seems a hard lesson to master.)

I wonder if you have recently taken time to think about the things that bring you pleasure and then considered which of these bring you the MOST pleasure? Is it possible that your greatest satisfaction is found in growing your relationship with the one who created you and who has such a good plan for you? I think it starts with growing a thankful heart. I hope your ‘thanks’ list is growing more than your complaints and wish list these days. Don’t let the lesser things of life distract you from enjoying life fully!

Obey your real thirst – trust God

When is it easiest for you to trust God? When life is hardest or when things go well?

On the one hand, when things go well, we should continue to trust God, but it is also so easy to become distracted by the steady routine of life without suffering. On the other hand, suffering and troubles sometimes bring us to a point of total surrender, when we realize we NEED to put our trust in a sovereign and loving God.

Did you know we always obey what we trust? Even if it seems we violate our basic trust, that which we know to be true, our choice to go another way simply points out how easily pleased we are with suspending our beliefs and trusting in something else. In this way, we become ‘slaves’ to the things we put our trust in.

Like the old advertisement said, we obey our thirst. The question is, what are you really thirsty for? And what are you willing to do to quench it completely? We either thirst for the things of this world (the lust of the eyes, the desires of the flesh, and the pride of life), or we thirst for God:

“As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?”
Psalm 42:1-2

Trust your deepest thirst. Trust God for living water that satisfies fully. Whatever level of trust you have in God right now, it is that level of trust that will teach you to trust more.

“TRUST HIM when dark doubts assail thee
TRUST HIM when trust is small
TRUST HIM when simply to
TRUST HIM is the hardest thing of all.”
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him” Romans 15:13

Doing What Jesus Said: Become Like Children

I write each post primarily to remind myself how I need to live my life each day. In this series on Do What Jesus Said, I am also writing to the community who profess to be Christians (though I believe there is value for all of us in these writings). It is to our – and the world’s – neglect when  we call ourselves followers of Christ but give little regard to living out what Jesus told us to do. “We are so easily pleased,” (and distracted) CS Lewis would say. But the truths that Jesus spoke are meant both to convict us and to transform us. Only then can we be “the light of the world.”

“And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 18:2-4

Jesus was always enthralled with the little ones and their honesty and humility of faith. He said, no matter what knowledge we have and without regard to how many good deeds we did or even prayers we said, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven unless we become like children. Imagine that, heaven filled with a bunch of kids playing and enjoying God forever without adults to interfere and legalize things!

I think one of the things Jesus loved about children was their ability to receive and share love unconditionally. We adults have difficulty with this; there always seems to be strings attached.

One of the principles I tried to pass on while I was in business leadership was to “presume goodness.” Rather than always take the offensive when “that” person spoke up, presume they have a good heart and seek first to understand. If their heart is ill-intended it always comes out on its own. Give love a chance. I am still learning this lesson!

I think another thing about children that captured Jesus’s heart was their ability to imagine a world quite different from the one they live in. Do you still have that gift of imagination? It allows you to see what is unseen and to contemplate a changed world.

Yes we are called to grow up in Christ, to mature as we come to a greater experience of His love for us. At the same time we are to hold onto that childlike faith that believes what is real, but just can’t be seen with the human eye.

That is the kind of faith that works. Keep it simple… Do What Jesus Said: become like a child, spend time with children like Jesus did, and as you teach them gentleness and wisdom and love and compassion, let them teach you about the kingdom of God.

The Desires of Your Heart

What do you enjoy thinking about the most? If your private thoughts were made into a movie, who would be the star and what would be the plot?

The bible and science agree that we become what we think about. We think about the desires of our hearts. We all seek our own happiness. Whether by indulging our own senses, wallowing in delusion or pity, or living sacrificially toward some honorable goal, our thoughts and desires lead our lives. Do you wrestle with the conflict of thoughts and desires in your own mind? We want to do what we shouldn’t and don’t want to do what we should. Sometimes it seems we seek everything except that which brings us true happiness.

CS Lewis said, “It seems 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 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 too easily pleased.”

Think of something you really enjoy doing now and how your desire for that has increased over time. It could be a hobby, a planned vacation to a favorite destination, the drive for achievement, or spending time with the one you love. The more you think about your desire, the stronger it becomes and the more you want to fulfill it.

Of all these things we desire, where does desiring God fit in? The law of thought and desire still applies. The more we think about God, His character, His Word, His great plan for us, His power, His love and compassion for us; the more we desire Him. The more we desire Him, the more our heart is delighted. The things of earth, even the reality of cancer and heartache and grief, grow strangely dim as our desire for God increases.

We can choose to remain like the child making mud pies in the slum, or realize we could enjoy a holiday at the sea. Having the desires of your heart begins with delighting in God.

Isn’t time to enjoy life fully by pursuing God’s best for you?!

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)