"Breaking the Idols of Your Heart"

Set 1:
· Control will always slip out of our grasp.
· Relationships will always disappoint.
· Work will leave us frustrated.
· Pleasure is always fleeting.
· Wisdom is never an adequate guide.
· Spirituality usually gives in to legalism.
· Life ends in decay and death.

VS

Set 2:
· Control leads to surrender to God’s will.
· Relationships lead to trust in God’s love.
· Work leads to labouring for God’s kingdom
· Pleasure leads to a hunger for God’s coming.
· Wisdom leads to a humble curiosity to know God.
· Spirituality leads to embracing God’s wild heart.
· Life leads to a joyous celebration of death and resurrection.

Which set is better for you?

Perhaps you know someone who has had a brush with death and lived to tell the story. Often, after they recover, such people have a new level of appreciation of the small pleasures of life. But we don’t need such a crisis to live in this life-affirming way. We only have to take the Teacher’s (Ecclesiastes) admonitions to heart and spend a little time meditating on our death, envisioning the moment when our participation in our everyday activities will be no more. Perhaps then we will find an increased sense of happiness not only in the special moments, but even in everyday routines like washing dishes or taking out the garbage.

Every stage has its inevitable burdens and potential joys.

(Bit and pieces from "Breaking the Idols of Your Heart" / Allender;Longman;Dan B.;Tremper)