Passing on the torch day3

Elisha had it pretty good. He was the son of a wealthy landowner. When Elijah found him, he was plowing in a field with 24 oxen. Most families at that time would have been lucky to own a chicken or a goat! Owning an ox was like driving an SUV, and having 24 oxen was almost unthinkable. Elisha came from a family of means.

But there’s more to life than comfort and affluence, and Elisha, rich as he was, recognized this.

He had no idea what exactly he was getting into when he agreed to become Elijah’s protégé, but he knew it was something bigger, something better, than just living for the moment, living for a wage slip.

He left behind a comfortable life (even burning the ploughs and cooking his oxen as a sign of his total commitment) to pursue God’s calling on his life. The life he was choosing would be difficult. He would challenge powerful people and be hunted by entire armies. He would live hand to mouth, sometimes not knowing where his next meal would come from.

Elisha did not believe that following God would keep him well-fed and wealthy, and he had no guarantee that things would turn out well, that he would be rewarded in this life. He must have known the potential danger he might encounter by choosing the narrow path.

But Elisha chose it willingly because he valued the calling of God more than he valued the comfort of this world.

Embracing an eternal perspective like that is never easy, but it’s often especially difficult for people who have an abundance of material possessions, in other words, the vast majority of people reading this blog (including the author). We may not feel wealthy, but statistically speaking, we are. That wealth is one of the primary reasons we have a hard time valuing the unseen calling of God over the tangible benefits and comforts of “the good life.” It’s quite a risk to let go of everything we’ve been taught to clamour after!

But at some point in time, a thoughtful person must ask, “What do I really want?”

People are sometimes fooled into believing that they want status, prosperity or popularity. Elisha had all of these things in spades, but he knew something was missing, or at least he recognized when an opportunity to find out presented itself. Ultimately, our pursuit of things leads to emptiness and a lack of fulfilment. As counter-intuitive as it seems, the pathway to the life we’ve always dreamed of, a life of true freedom, meaning and purpose, is found in the conscious choice to pursue the things of God, even when that pursuit brings us to difficult circumstances, trials or hardships, even when it calls us to give up everything.

Few people on their deathbeds lament, “I wish I’d accumulated more money, more land, more wealth, more status.” People at death’s door know they can’t take any of that to the ultimate show-and-tell.

When we value calling and character over comfort, we find out what real comfort is. We find a better comfort than we could ever have imagined for ourselves.

If you don’t believes me, wait ‘til you get to heaven and ask Elisha.

 

Lord God, every day I wrestle with the visible versus the invisible, the now versus the not-yet, the goods of this world versus the currency of the next world, the temporal versus the eternal. As I reflect on the things the world system tells me to pursue in its definition of the good life, I understand that none of them can satisfy my soul, because I was made and meant for so much more. I must admit that no amount of wealth, pleasure, success or prestige can ever contend with even the simplest gift that comes from Your hand. You are the architect of true pleasure and satisfaction; these things flow out of the personal knowledge of You. What I really want is You, because I realise that when I seek first Your kingdom and righteousness, everything else will fall into its proper place.

In Jesus’s name, Amen

 

Elisha had it pretty good. He was the son of a wealthy landowner. When Elijah found him, he was plowing in a field with 24 oxen. Most families at that time would have been lucky to own a chicken or a goat! Owning an ox was like driving an SUV, and having 24 oxen was almost unthinkable. Elisha came from a family of means.

But there’s more to life than comfort and affluence, and Elisha, rich as he was, recognized this.

He had no idea what exactly he was getting into when he agreed to become Elijah’s protégé, but he knew it was something bigger, something better, than just living for the moment, living for a wage slip.

He left behind a comfortable life (even burning the ploughs and cooking his oxen as a sign of his total commitment) to pursue God’s calling on his life. The life he was choosing would be difficult. He would challenge powerful people and be hunted by entire armies. He would live hand to mouth, sometimes not knowing where his next meal would come from.

Elisha did not believe that following God would keep him well-fed and wealthy, and he had no guarantee that things would turn out well, that he would be rewarded in this life. He must have known the potential danger he might encounter by choosing the narrow path.

But Elisha chose it willingly because he valued the calling of God more than he valued the comfort of this world.

Embracing an eternal perspective like that is never easy, but it’s often especially difficult for people who have an abundance of material possessions, in other words, the vast majority of people reading this blog (including the author). We may not feel wealthy, but statistically speaking, we are. That wealth is one of the primary reasons we have a hard time valuing the unseen calling of God over the tangible benefits and comforts of “the good life.” It’s quite a risk to let go of everything we’ve been taught to clamour after!

But at some point in time, a thoughtful person must ask, “What do I really want?”

People are sometimes fooled into believing that they want status, prosperity or popularity. Elisha had all of these things in spades, but he knew something was missing, or at least he recognized when an opportunity to find out presented itself. Ultimately, our pursuit of things leads to emptiness and a lack of fulfilment. As counter-intuitive as it seems, the pathway to the life we’ve always dreamed of, a life of true freedom, meaning and purpose, is found in the conscious choice to pursue the things of God, even when that pursuit brings us to difficult circumstances, trials or hardships, even when it calls us to give up everything.

Few people on their deathbeds lament, “I wish I’d accumulated more money, more land, more wealth, more status.” People at death’s door know they can’t take any of that to the ultimate show-and-tell.

When we value calling and character over comfort, we find out what real comfort is. We find a better comfort than we could ever have imagined for ourselves.

If you don’t believes me, wait ‘til you get to heaven and ask Elisha.

 

Lord God, every day I wrestle with the visible versus the invisible, the now versus the not-yet, the goods of this world versus the currency of the next world, the temporal versus the eternal. As I reflect on the things the world system tells me to pursue in its definition of the good life, I understand that none of them can satisfy my soul, because I was made and meant for so much more. I must admit that no amount of wealth, pleasure, success or prestige can ever contend with even the simplest gift that comes from Your hand. You are the architect of true pleasure and satisfaction; these things flow out of the personal knowledge of You. What I really want is You, because I realize that when I seek first Your kingdom and righteousness, everything else will fall into its proper place.

In Jesus’s name, Amen