BEYOND THE GRASP

A friend of mine and I were discussing the problem of insecurity the other night. We were approaching it from the standpoint of how insecurity often is at the root of when people do things for selfish reasons. They get blinded by some need and it prevents them from in any way appreciating the harm their activity is creating for others.

My friend is a wonderful man who admittedly is not on the road to greed. He's just not about getting rich or hurting others to line his own pocket with gold.

Admittedly, he has done well for himself, but he never flaunts his success at others. He's just content to enjoy.

What bother him was not being to appreciate why some people seem to get so obsessed with getting ahead and doing so at the expense of others. They live to make money and never even let the law stand in their way.

Now, personally, I do appreciate how there is nothing wrong with a person being a success, but to be honest I also understand that there is a big difference between doing your best and being downright greedy. I do wonder at times if this is something all who claim to follow Christ really grasp.

This week I heard about this senior pastor of a very big church who was forced to resign his ministry after he admitted to some major scandal of which he was guilty. Apparently it was a problem he had that went back for years and he simply had finally gotten caught.

Knowing he had this problem, he could have quit his church years ago and avoided the risk of such exposure, but he didn't. And now he has been force to leave and behind him are the followers who no doubt and confused and wounded by his failings

But how often do we out of pride or simple selfishness avoid listening to our heart or the Lord's wisdom? It just becomes so easy to rationalize our sins, especially where money is involved.

And when we ignore the possible consequences we are almost always face with the eventual calamity when the law of probabilities goes against us. Then comes the disaster we thought would never happen.

Grasping is a part of life. We have to work and function on so many levels as part of life. Does that mean we are always to take it beyond the need for grasp?

I think we all know the answer, we just don't care for the one that is from the Lord that doesn't placate our own sense of need. Then it comes to a point of acceptance of the issue of enough.

That is one issue that too many will always put in a category of more rather than enough. It is human nature, but not necessarily God's will. Whether we go beyond the grasp in terms of embracing the truth can be the hardest lesson of all to learn.