Pretty, Shiny Things
In the doctor’s waiting lounge, I began to look through a local “buy, sell, trade” website. One advertisement caught my attention:
“I saw a pretty boat, I wanted a pretty boat, I bought a pretty boat. The boat is still pretty, but I don’t want the pretty boat anymore. I do not want to see the pretty boat in my driveway. Willing to trade for a pretty motorcycle – prefer red.”
While the advertisement made me chuckle, it also reminded me of the folly of chasing after pretty, shiny things. Pretty, shiny things may bring joy for a short moment, but my eye is never satisfied.
Michael Blue wrote a short devotional about aligning our hearts by changing the focus of our eyes. I found it helpful and hope you do as well.
“As in the water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man.” –Proverbs 27:19-20
Why am I never satisfied?
My eyes are never satisfied.
King Solomon had everything he wanted, and still he wanted more. More wives. More concubines. More horses. More gold. More, more, more . . .
He knew nothing would ever satisfy his eyes. He also knew that just as a mirror reflects his face the desires of his heart reflect his true self. These two natural tendencies were the battlefield of Solomon’s life. His eyes’ desire for more on one side and the character of his heart on the other. Both could not win.
If you know the story, you know that Solomon’s eyes won. Solomon lost the battle for his heart because he longed for things more than God.
Our hearts’ character is the only defense against our unsatisfied eyes. The desire for more is not new. It plagued Solomon, it plagued the early church, and it plagues us. So how do we align the character of our hearts toward God and away from our ever-wandering eyes?
Jesus tells us that what we spend our treasure (money and possessions) on is what will win our hearts (Matthew 6:19-21). That means to turn our hearts away from the desires of our unsatisfied eyes we must put our treasure into other things. We must put it in things that make us treasure God more. When we do this our hearts are changed, the things we treasure are changed, and our eyes are satisfied.
When I struggle with wanting more, the best thing I can do is to intentionally move my treasure toward the things that God treasures: widows, orphans, immigrants, the church, prisoners, etc. As I do this, my heart moves toward God. As my heart moves, I change. As I change, my eyes are satisfied.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” –Matthew 6:19–24