Enjoying Good Things

1 Timothy 6:17

WEALTH IS SAID TO be the parent of luxury.

Perhaps you’re reluctant to entertain any dreams since daily reality turns them into nightmares of unfulfilled desire. It is possible that you are even laboring under the whip of that eternal taskmaster, Fear, who buffets your fondest fantasy with three brutal blows from his lash—public criticism, personal guilt, and perverted humility.

Why not meet your secret longing head on? Why not declare that it’s there in your thoughts, waiting for an honest, wise, and intelligent response? I have a most interesting time asking Christians what they would really like to have—what they’d enjoy owning. I’ve had them look around like somebody would squeal on them . . . or squirm like worms, feeling uneasy as they admit that down deep inside they cherish some specific, luxurious wish. They occasionally whisper it to me under their breath as if confessing some vice or awful crime. Nonsense!

Now the only wrong in all this is when expensive and luxurious things possess us. On that axis, everything shifts. When that happens the green ghost of greed invades our dwelling and haunts our once-contented mind . . . like the farmer Jesus told about in Luke 12:16–21, who substituted the material for the spiritual. That man, said Jesus, was an outright fool. To him, luxuries were essential to life . . . they were his sole means of happiness and security. He became occupied with the gift and failed to consult with or recognize the Giver.

Remember, this is in the Bible:

Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for enjoyment.

1 TIMOTHY 6:17

Do you have some hidden hope that might be labeled a luxury?

Admit it . . . don’t ignore it. Evaluate it . . . don’t fear it. Plan for it . . . don’t grab it. Enjoy it . . . don’t worship it.

Go ahead . . . dream a little. God is smiling with you.