Grieved

When I take the time to think about the destruction and total depravity of most of our world it makes me shudder. Much too often I erase it as soon as it enters because the pain of fully divulging myself into such thoughts would last a lifetime. We don't take the salvation of others as seriously as we ought. We cast it aside and are thankful for our own salvation, as though we can rest easy and live lives of harmony because we've "found" God and everything else is taken care of. WRONG.

"Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!" Amos 6:4-6.

Are you grieved over the ruin of our world? Are you grieved because even whole churches and certainly active participants in other places of worship actually abhor God and do not follow His teachings? Are you saddened that people have the option of church and yet do not attend because they see it as hypocritical or they are too "busy" to go? Are we grieved?

We're not so different from the people back in the Old Testament are we? We still overindulge and take our eyes off of the prize. We still sit idly as the world continues to fall into utter darkness. We still do things that bring us temporary comfort because we have never chosen to taste the eternal reward that God holds right in front of us everyday. We are much too easily pleased with the trivial and we settle for momentary happiness that flees as quickly as it came. It flees because it wasn't meant to fill the space we're giving it. It flees because only God can fill that void and yet therein lies the great mystery about why we struggle so indepthly to fight off His reign.

I look at the verses from Amos and I realize we're a whole lot like these people. We want the finest things, we want the nicest meals and richest furniture. We want the big houses and fine living. But does it bring us joy? There's always going to be someone that has more, that's more successful, that's smarter, that's thinks more indepthly, that's more intuitive, that's more fun, that's more cunning, that's prettier, that can outsmart you. There's always going to be someone. But what matters is that which is eternal. The salvation of others matter. It matters much more than gold or silver. Think about it- we long for riches like beds of ivory just as the Israelites but we're going to a place where the streets are paved with gold if we decide to cast aside those beds of ivory for now and focus on the plans of the Lord and working out His salvation in our lives. On one hand you have something fleeting and on the other you have someonething WAY better that is also eternal. I think I'll choose the streets of gold and wait to see how much better the bed must be than ivory.