It’s hard to be in the world and not do as the world does. After all, we have to work to stay alive. We must have a roof over our head to protect us. We have to get to work somehow.

There is nothing wrong with that and it’s actually part of the assignment we all have here on earth. The problem comes when you are sucked in by the world and you just want more and more. Then we lose perspective. Then we just get angry that we can’t have more.

Until we are forced to stop by something and we suddenly realize what it’s really about. Dané’s (not her real name) story gives me pause:

I have colon cancer and had to shave my hair yesterday because of the chemotherapy.

I am very sad this morning, but how vain we are – I used to love showing off my lovely hair.

I am angry many days, because I also have a colostomy bag and it’s sometimes difficult when I’m with others.

I didn’t see this cancer thing coming and when it happened, it was like a bucket of cold water in my face. Many days I am full of hope and many days, angry at life.

Still, I realized that life is not about a beautiful head of hair and not about a beautiful face, but about the finish line when we finally go to Jesus.

The Lord is good …

This cancer stop sign came to clean Dané’s life glasses. The glasses that are splashed with mud by the world. No, there is nothing wrong with wanting to look beautiful. We all want to have beautiful hair and be attractive to our loved ones, but that’s not the main focus.

The world’s mud makes us think we must have everything to be truly happy. This mud often includes wanting bigger and better things, worldly things that we have, and if we don’t get them, we get upset. We get ugly. And that is very unpleasant for the other people around us.

James warns us against this: ²You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

We have to take off our glasses of life and see what mud life has splashed on them. Those things we just want and have and have. No matter how much it costs.

Let’s learn from Dané. Let’s clean our glasses and realize that we may want all kinds of things, but that they don’t really matter. Let’s focus on what matters, because for that we don’t have to unleash the devil. On the contrary, Jesus made sure that he is not even in the picture.

Scripture
James 4:1-6

Reflection
Where is mud on your glasses?
How can you clean it off?
What should you focus on?

Prayer
Father, I know that sometimes I want things that don’t really have eternal value. I know that I need to put Your things in the center of my life, but I struggle with that. In Jesus’ Name.