Recently, after a Cowboys loss to the Redskins, I saw a video of a guy completely destroying his whole house in anger over the outcome of the game. It was nuts! Dude was crazy. Broke his big giant TV, dining room table, and a bunch of other stuff!! Clearly, he felt like his whole world had crashed around him when America’s Team (Yes, I still call them America’s Team) lost.
This guy’s actions made me think of what sometimes goes on in my heart when things don’t go the way I think they should. No, I don’t tear up my house, but my mind and emotions can be given over to deep frustration and anger. For me it’s not the Cowboys, I’ve had to get use to them losing over the years:) For me, it might be something with my family, my work, even just frustration with myself. Anybody else struggle with letting circumstances rule your emotions and rob you of your joy?
The Christian life shouldn’t be a roller coaster of anger and frustration. Our hearts should be ruled by Jesus Christ, not out circumstances. That’s why we call Jesus “Lord”, because he’s OVER ALL. So if Jesus, The Prince of Peace, is King of my heart, why am at times I given over to frustration and anger??? Because I’m sinful and forgetful of greatness and satisfaction that comes from God alone. I let important things become ultimate things. I, and maybe you too, need to be reminded that my ultimate value and identity rests not in my circumstances, but rather in my relationship with God. This doesn’t mean that throws of life are not important, they are! It just means that circumstances of life can’t leg-sweep us like Johnny did Daniel Larusso in Karate Kid.
A few weeks ago at a Men’s conference I attended, one of the speakers, Eric Mason, said “When God isn’t enough, nothing will be.” That is the TRUTH! Without God in His rightful place in our life, we can’t truly enjoy anything, because whatever occupies the rightful place of God, can crush us at anytime when we lose it. You can’t enjoy something so fragile. CS Lewis put it like this: “Don’t let your happiness depend on something you may lose.”
The truth is, all that we see with our eyes today, $$, possessions, power, could be gone tomorrow, and these things won’t go with us into eternity. But the love of God in Christ Jesus can not/will not be taken away from those who are His. Jesus’ final payment on the cross for sin is just that, final. If your faith is in Christ, you have been bought with a price, never to be returned. Nothing can take God away from us. Nothing can snatch us from his hand. And when all we have is God, we have all that we need. We should enjoy the comforts of this life (even Cowboys wins), they’re gifts from God, but they’re not meant to be the ultimate source of our happiness, God is.
Check out the words of the Psalmist, in Psalm 73:25-28
Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
How would our lives look different if we believed in and walked in the truth of this Psalm?
Thanks for reading. Hope to see y’all Sunday, if not before.
God is more than enough.
Pastor Roy Layman 