Overreaching Our Grasp-DD 8/6/10

"Better is a handful with quietness than two handfuls with labor and striving after wind."
Ecc 4:6

It is a beautiful thing to go about your life taking care of your responsibilities to God, family and man in peace and harmony. To do anything less is a denial of the faith and causes one to sink to the level of an infidel, 1 Tim 5:8. God designed our lives to be lived in a way that we would never know want, pain, hunger or even extremes of temperature. He intended for us to always be in close physical proximity to Him as He cared for us. As evidence of this, consider the ethereal existence in Eden. Even the word is used as a metaphor for the perfect paradise.

Tragically, we could not be satisfied with having all of our needs met. We began to experience want. When these misguided, ill advised desires (lusts) caused us to reach beyond our grasp, we violated God's law and cost ourselves perfection. For a mere bite of fruit, the consequences amounted to the worst relationship and real estate transaction in the history of time. We were shut out of paradise and forced to labor and travail for our needs.

Beloved, we can all come up with things that we want despite having our basic needs met. There is nothing wrong with wanting to provide your family or your fellow man nice things in life. When we lose sight of what is important and commanded of God, however, we make the same mistake our progenitors did. When our desires outweigh our obedience, we fall into idolatry and again cost ourselves paradise. Then as now, for all our efforts, all we will end up with is a handful of hot wind. Let us bend our backs to His righteous labor. He will supply all of our needs and many of our wants.

In Revival,

Lee

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