Friday, December 23, 2011

December 23, 2011 Lord, You are All I Want

Psalm 142: 5  I pray to you, O Lord, I say, “You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life.”

We sing, well at least some of remember singing, “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, my two front teeth …” Well it goes on from there, and so do we.
I must have been six when I remember singing that in front of the tree, all the while knowing it really wasn’t true.  I don’t remember what I did want, but it probably included a doll because I remember the doll I got that Christmas. Her name was Roxanne, and she was beeyouteeful!  I have no idea what else I got, and thankfully, that was before the days of the Sears catalog. I remember the Christmases after that, when our mother had us write our names on the things we wanted in the catalog….things we did not even know existed before that catalog.

Then came TV and newspapers, and magazines and billboard ads along the road all promising that if we just got this one thing, happiness would be ours. The problem is, they all lied. Over the years I did get one or maybe a few of those gifts, the ones that promise happiness, and all they did was make the list of possibilities one item shorter.  I have lived a lot of years, and I can promise you, no one thing made me happy for very long.
Now, I am not saying I am an unhappy person.  What I am saying is that no person or thing can give you true fulfillment and happiness.  That happiness place inside you remains leaky, like a balloon with a tiny whole, letting the air out, even if it is slowly.

People fail; after all, they are flawed human beings, just like me.   Stuff wears out, breaks or goes out of style, or we do.  God alone never fails.
I remember the summer God came into my life – over fifty years ago. By anyone’s clock, that’s a long time ago. Over the years, I have unwrapped a whole lot of gifts, but only that gift of a Savior remains to bring satisfaction and joy. If you know me, you know I love books. I have piles of them all around me, about everywhere I go. But no book brings me more joy than the Bible, God’s love letter to me.   

As I reflect on all the stuff of Christmas this year, I can honestly say, it can all go away.  Just give me Jesus.  Now I am not saying I don’t love or want the people close to me in my life. I am not tempting God. Well, he cannot be tempted anyway. But I can pray, “God, help me to remember this moment when all the promises of the world threaten to drown out the truth, that there is no gift more precious nor satisfying than your love.”

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