"Their god is their stomach"
Saludos otra vez,
I've been thinking about some things from the sermon I heard today on Phillipians 3:17-21. In it Paul writes,
The phrase "their god is their stomach" really struck me in particular. (Now, that may partly be because I happen to be fasting today, but it goes much deeper than that.) We have all these desires--physical desires, emotional desires, dreams and visions and passions. Many of these desires are very legitimate and good in their own right, such as the desire for food, which God gave for our enjoyment and to remind us that He is our provider; or sex, which God again gave for our enjoyment and to reflect the union we have in Him. Others like the desire for friends, for companionship, for people around you who know and love you, are also God-given desires that reflect our desire for intimacy with Him, as well as for community in the body of Christ. (Think about it: God could have just made one person and sent Jesus to die for him/her, but instead He created a whole world of people, with all kinds of gifts and personalities and perspectives.) There are some desires that are never legitimate, such as the desire to hate somebody, or to steal, or to put ourselves above God or other people. But you can see how many of these evil desires in different ways are twisted versions of a good desire (hatred may come from valuing somebody whom this person has hurt, stealing may come from a legitimate desire for food, etc.).
Sometimes, especially when I don't have what I desire, I get frustrated with God and think, "Why did you have to give me this desire in the first place?" Why should my body want food, if there's no food to be had? Why should I desire sex, when God hasn't given me a wife? Why should I desire friendship and companionship, when I'm alone in a new place? Couldn't God somehow just avoid the whole thing?
I think the answer to that question, to that frustration, is that God desires us to desire Him, and He wants to use these other desires He gives us to point us to Him. If we didn't desire food, we might not ever learn what it means that Jesus is the Bread of Life. If we didn't desire sex, we might not understand the kind of intimacy God desires to have with His bride. If we didn't desire companionship, friendship, and people who know and understand us, then we might not realize how great and glorious it is that our God, our Creator, knows us in and out, and desires to be with us every day.
God could have created a sterile world, where we have no desires and therefore need nothing to satisfy those desires. But the want, the lack, the frustration of desires, He wants to use to show us the difference between having our "minds on earthly things" versus recognizing that we belong to heaven, and our citizenship is there. An alien or an immigrant is a foreigner where he is--he doesn't belong. But a citizen belongs in his country. Followers of Jesus don't belong in this world; we belong in heaven. But if we set our minds on earthly things--if we never look past the desire itself to the Creator and Fulfiller of those desires, then we are setting our roots on this earth, and we become corrupt.
When we have the treasure of knowing Jesus, and we hold onto it at all cost, we will have everything else we need. But if we "don't have"--if we give up this treasure in order to grasp at the ephemeral fulfillment of what our sinful flesh desires, then even what we think we have will be taken from us, and our desires will be left forever unsatisfied. If we live this way, our "destiny is destruction."
God is a good God, and He who did not spare his own Son for us will graciously give us all things. But we have to trust in Him and wait on Him for what we need, or in the end we will have nothing.
I've been thinking about some things from the sermon I heard today on Phillipians 3:17-21. In it Paul writes,
For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who...will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
The phrase "their god is their stomach" really struck me in particular. (Now, that may partly be because I happen to be fasting today, but it goes much deeper than that.) We have all these desires--physical desires, emotional desires, dreams and visions and passions. Many of these desires are very legitimate and good in their own right, such as the desire for food, which God gave for our enjoyment and to remind us that He is our provider; or sex, which God again gave for our enjoyment and to reflect the union we have in Him. Others like the desire for friends, for companionship, for people around you who know and love you, are also God-given desires that reflect our desire for intimacy with Him, as well as for community in the body of Christ. (Think about it: God could have just made one person and sent Jesus to die for him/her, but instead He created a whole world of people, with all kinds of gifts and personalities and perspectives.) There are some desires that are never legitimate, such as the desire to hate somebody, or to steal, or to put ourselves above God or other people. But you can see how many of these evil desires in different ways are twisted versions of a good desire (hatred may come from valuing somebody whom this person has hurt, stealing may come from a legitimate desire for food, etc.).
Sometimes, especially when I don't have what I desire, I get frustrated with God and think, "Why did you have to give me this desire in the first place?" Why should my body want food, if there's no food to be had? Why should I desire sex, when God hasn't given me a wife? Why should I desire friendship and companionship, when I'm alone in a new place? Couldn't God somehow just avoid the whole thing?
I think the answer to that question, to that frustration, is that God desires us to desire Him, and He wants to use these other desires He gives us to point us to Him. If we didn't desire food, we might not ever learn what it means that Jesus is the Bread of Life. If we didn't desire sex, we might not understand the kind of intimacy God desires to have with His bride. If we didn't desire companionship, friendship, and people who know and understand us, then we might not realize how great and glorious it is that our God, our Creator, knows us in and out, and desires to be with us every day.
God could have created a sterile world, where we have no desires and therefore need nothing to satisfy those desires. But the want, the lack, the frustration of desires, He wants to use to show us the difference between having our "minds on earthly things" versus recognizing that we belong to heaven, and our citizenship is there. An alien or an immigrant is a foreigner where he is--he doesn't belong. But a citizen belongs in his country. Followers of Jesus don't belong in this world; we belong in heaven. But if we set our minds on earthly things--if we never look past the desire itself to the Creator and Fulfiller of those desires, then we are setting our roots on this earth, and we become corrupt.
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:32-33)
Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him. (Luke 8:18)
When we have the treasure of knowing Jesus, and we hold onto it at all cost, we will have everything else we need. But if we "don't have"--if we give up this treasure in order to grasp at the ephemeral fulfillment of what our sinful flesh desires, then even what we think we have will be taken from us, and our desires will be left forever unsatisfied. If we live this way, our "destiny is destruction."
God is a good God, and He who did not spare his own Son for us will graciously give us all things. But we have to trust in Him and wait on Him for what we need, or in the end we will have nothing.
posted by Seth | 3:41 PM
1 Comments:
AMEN! I'm learning that exact lesson myself from Is. 29-31.
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