Ecclesiastes 6:7
7 All man’s labor is for his stomach,
yet the appetite is never satisfied.
yet the appetite is never satisfied.
Without God’s grace, we strive tirelessly to achieve that which cannot be accomplished. We desire our desires to be fulfilled. We like having desires, but not without having them realized. Being hungry is good only inasmuch as having access to food is possible. Our appetite drives us. We work to get money to buy food to eat to give us energy to work to get money to buy food.
But is that it? Are we so thoughtless and consumed by the daily procuring of provision for ourselves that we miss the target to which this design aims?
Those who worship appetite cannot ever be satisfied. It is impossible. It is tireless, relentless, futile work. You cannot eat so much today as to never be hungry again. You cannot indulge so much today as to not require by necessity another rest stop refreshment in the future. It cannot be accomplished. You are striving after wind.
This is not my way of telling you that you have a God-shaped hole in your heart that can only be filled by His Holy Spirit. This is my way of telling you that you are a butthole who daily strives for that which is passing by you because you do not desire the impassable things of God.
You prefer waste to grace.
Style to substance.
Preference to provision.
You prefer waste to grace.
Style to substance.
Preference to provision.
All that we do is aimed at getting what we want.
This is the best we can do.
You will by default only do what you want unless you are confronted by and conformed to the image of Christ. Only then will you face for the first time the conflict of doing that which you no longer desire to do and the dilemma of discouragement that accompanies having done it.
It is a blessed despair. One that drives us daily to the provision of God in Christ on our behalf as our only source of consistent hope.
This is the best we can do.
You will by default only do what you want unless you are confronted by and conformed to the image of Christ. Only then will you face for the first time the conflict of doing that which you no longer desire to do and the dilemma of discouragement that accompanies having done it.
It is a blessed despair. One that drives us daily to the provision of God in Christ on our behalf as our only source of consistent hope.
Until then, you will be driven only by you and what you want, whatever that may be. You cannot separate you from you. You cannot Google earth yourself. You are always at street level. Only in receiving a Spirit from above can you see how far beneath God your desires now are.
He does not desire to merely be along for the ride.
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