- Proverbs 12:11: "Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense." What can we learn here? If I plow and plant and fertilize and water and weed the land I own, the land, by God's general grace, will yield grain, from which I can make and then enjoy bread. I will probably even have bread to give to others and to trade with. This is doing what is expected and what is responsible with what I have so that my needs will be provided. It is living by the law of sowing and reaping. BUT...if I go after "worthless pursuits," i.e. if I "chase fantasies" (NLT), then I show I am foolish and soon I will have to do without or beg from those who were working their land!
Being spiritual and godly does NOT mean I lose my mind. It does not mean that I lose good common sense, the kind that even pagans live by. What kinds of fantasies might we chase in our day?
- The fantasy of the PERFECT JOB. Where is that utopian 9 to 5 where all employees wash one another's feet? Where is that boss who lays awake at night thinking of how he can make the work day better for ME? Where is that employment where folks break out into spontaneous Bible studies on justification and sanctification and propitiation and the boss says, "What a delight! We can do our work later...or not at all!" Where is such a job? IT IS IN HEAVEN! that is where. Until then, when I am supposed to be working my land (my day by day often monotonous job), I need to be working my land, or I and others will suffer.
- The fantasy of the PERFECT RELATIONSHIP. Why can't my wife just learn once and for all that I am not only the world's greatest romantic, but a nearly omniscient source of wisdom for all of life's problems? Why can't my kids learn to love one another with King James language and Elizabethan gentility? WHY? Because even the redeemed heart is full of sin, sin that causes us to be self-absorbed. My wife is a sinner, like me (only a little less advanced in the school of self-absorbtion). My kids are sinners. We're ALL sinners. Don't buy the lie that that gal at the office is greener grass or that the Joneses kids are one step from their heavenly graduation. WORK on those relationships that are the RELATIONAL LAND God has given you to plow and plant and fertilize and water. They don't exist for your supreme happiness. You exist under God to build into them with love. The harvest will come in God's time.
- The fantasy of the PERFECT CHURCH. OOOOOh! I am close to this one. Why doesn't Pastor _______ hold my interest like that guy on the radio? Why don't we have the same programs for our kids that FIRST CHURCH does? Why doesn't our worship team sound like they were directly transplanted from Nashville? Why don't we have more choices for Adult Classes, Kid's Classes, Youth Classes? Why aren't we growing like the Cathedral of Angels downtown? WHY? Because God's plan for every church is somewhat different. Because God has put you in your church to be an influence for godly growth through the use of your gifts in ministry and all you are doing is comparing and complaining. I have been that voice of "Why?" too many times. Brother/Sister: work the land of your church. It's the spiritual land that God has given you...don't be spending your time looking for greener spiritual acres. They don't exist.
May God grant us all to stop chasing fantasies and instead put our head down and lean our weight of gifts and talents and time and money into working the land we have already been given. The bread will be supplied and it will satisfy.
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