The World: Holiday Stuffing
{!-- ra:000000001679e6ef0000000077d32efd --}{if 'The World: Holiday Stuffing' == '52home' && category_name == '52home'} {if:else} {/if}I’ve been thinking a lot about worldliness lately. Maybe that’s because my husband is presently immersed in editing and contributing two chapters to a book on this topic (which of course I get to read while it’s being written). Or possibly it’s because Chad is writing a paper on this subject for his Bible class at school (which of course I get to help with).
All this thinking about worldliness has led to a fresh realization: I don’t think often enough about worldliness.
I assume worldliness doesn’t apply to me. I take for granted that I’m not lured by things of the world. I’m above that temptation.
Wrong!
I may not be tempted to dress immodestly or to watch ungodly movies, but I am tempted by other things that spoil my hunger for God.
Take the Christmas season, for instance. Every holiday I can be drawn to all things Christmassy—the shopping, buying gifts, wrapping presents, decorating the tree, baking holiday treats, attending parties and celebrations. Of course these things are not wrong in and of themselves. They can be delightful gifts from God. But I can be tempted to desire them more than the most important thing—regardless of the season: sitting at the Lord’s feet (Luke 10:38-41). And then I wonder why my heart feels so dull come December 26th.
John Piper provides the explanation when he says:
“If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation for the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great” (John Piper, A Hunger for God, p. 23)
This holiday I don’t want my soul stuffed only with decorations, shopping, and Christmas cookies. I want to make every effort to drink deeply of God’s presence so my soul will be truly satisfied.