A Path, Some Lust, and a Bowl O' Stew

I have had some trouble writing this afternoon.  I'm not sure why, but I am going to push on through and hopefully this will make sense once I reach the end. 

I have been listening to some of the old series on Lifechurch.tv a lot this week.  While I don't personally like the design of their church, I do enjoy listening to Pastor Groeschel preach.  I do believe he has a great heart for God and so far I haven't heard anything that he has taught on stray from the word of God.  He isn't afraid of saying it like it is.  One of the series I listened to was called Weird.  (It was great if you have the chance to watch it I would highly recommend it.)  That and my Sunday school lesson today, along with some other things I have been listening and thinking about, have really spoken to my heart.  I have always kind of gone against the norm, I like being different, until I feel like being who I am is keeping me from being one of the crowd.  Then I have always felt that maybe there was something wrong with me and perhaps I might need to alter who I am so that I wouldn't feel separate.  That was then.  Now I realize that it's okay to be different, the bible tells us, 

⁹ But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

                                                   1 Peter 2:9 

We are called to be peculiar! Peculiar is GOOD! I am proud of being different if in that difference I am showing those around me what it looks like to live like a CHRISTian and to follow the narrow path that God has placed before me.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:

¹³ Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. ¹⁴ For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it.

I don't know about you, but I want to be one of those few.  So how do we stay on that path?  If we go back over to 1 Peter, he tells us,

¹¹ Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

¹² Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

So basically, be honest, above reproach, humble, and pure, a reflection of Christ!  We must figure out what our lusts are, what our idols are, the things that pull us away from God's grace and diligently guard our hearts from following them away from the path God has placed us on.  Everyone battles at least one of these things.  For me I would have to say it is lust.  

I long to be in love, to feel that excitement, to be enamored by someone and feel that they are the same towards me.  I know now that I have to be very careful about what I watch and listen to and what I am thinking so that I can protect myself from falling into the traps that are waiting for me.  It might be that I don't watch a certain movie or show, sometimes I have to stop listening to a certain song or type of music.  I do not want to tempt myself to go outside of God's plan for me and find a quick fix for those longings.  If I were to do that I would only end up back in the mess God just led me out of.  Some people never learn this and are doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again.  I have no desire to fall into that category so I am determined to keep my focus on God and not on my fleshly desires.  Psalms 37:4 says, "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." I truly believe that God has something great planned for me and whatever it is I want to be completely available to him so that He can lead me through that plan. 

I know that this is a not an easy concept to get ones head around. The world today is all about please me now, not later, and why waits. But really what good does it do? To buy something on credit that you want now, just to pay three times as much for it eventually when you finally get it paid off, and by then not even want it anymore!  To meet someone your sexually attracted to, mistake it for love and get married, only to realize a little way down the road that it was not what you wanted and so you get a divorce! This is not the way life is supposed to work. That is not God's plan for anyone. 

The story of Esau and Jacob is a great example of what can happen if we demand that our wants now are met immediately in trade for our greater reward later.  Esau traded his birthright to his little brother Jacob for a bowl of stew.  Think about that he traded his spot in "the God of Abraham, Issac and Esau", for A BOWL OF STEW! Because he had to have that bowl of stew right then, we now say "the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob".  

So think about it, what path are you following? Are you on that narrow path that leads to Heaven or are you on that nice easy wide path that leads to destruction? What is your bowl of stew? What are you trading for immediate gratification that you might regret not having further down the road? Are you delighting in the Lord or yourself? I leave you with this last instruction from Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."