Saturday, January 30, 2010

Look to the Lord for Guidance

"Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods." -- Psalm 40:4

I'd like to permanently mark this verse on my heart so that every time I want something I don't have I'll remember what is really important. Our world is focused on things -- an expensive car, a fabulous house, designer clothes. Yet none of those things matter to God. And they shouldn't matter to us.

We all judge people by their possessions. We do. We may not want to. We may know we shouldn't. But we do. We treat a person dressed in new fashionable clothing differently than we treat the person in ragged jeans and a worn t-shirt. We admire the person in the snazzy new SUV and look down on the driver of the clunker idling loudly beside us at the red light. And, really, so long as we get from point A to point B, what difference does it make to anything besides our egos?

We are called to put our trust in God. He provides all our needs. Maybe not in the grand fashion we would prefer, but He does provide. In turn, we are called to love everyone equally. We are to treat others as we expect to be treated. We are all God's children and He loves us equally. I know. Shocking, isn't it? He loves the person living on the streets just as much as He loves the one living in the mansion.

All those things we crave are nothing more than false gods, seeking to lure us away from what's important. Don't let those things, or the people who hold them out as carrots to twist our thinking, take us away from God and His will. Stay focused on God and you'll have everything you'll ever need.