Ever wanted to play a practical joke on a monkey? Find a jar with a mouth just wide enough for his hand to fit through, and put a peanut in it. Then give the jar to the monkey. Oh, we all know what happens. In his frenzy to seize the treat, the monkey reaches into the jar to grasp it. Unfortunately, as long as he clenches the peanut in his fist, he cannot remove his hand from the jar! It won’t fit! The poor monkey is bewildered. He goes about his day with a jar stuck over his hand. He simply sees no way other way to procure the treat.

I am often exactly like that monkey. Things such as winsomeness, friends, respect, and power are mere peanuts in a jar. Try as I might, they simply can’t be taken by force. These things belong to God! None of them can be taken by any human. They can only be given.

Think of the guy with the spiky hair, Nikes, and bulging muscles. He basically lives at the gym. Why? He has completely sold himself to looking attractive for the ladies. But he’ll never be attractive that way. Anyone with a true eye for beauty will find his kind of character disgusting. ALERT!! Monkey is clutching his peanut!!

Think of the woman scrambling for promotions at her job. She wants power. She wants control. Soon she is made a high-level manager in the company. For a little while, she is successful and happy. But very soon she begins to realize that no one wants to listen to her anymore! Her desire for power has made her proud and bossy. And nobody wants to obey a proud bossy person. ALERT!! Monkey is clutching her peanut!!

Attractiveness and power: such things simply can’t be taken. They can only be given by the God who created them. Returning to our poor monkey, it is now evening. The monkey’s eyelids begin to grow heavy; his hand relaxes its grip on the peanut. The jar slips onto the floor. The peanut rolls out and is summarily devoured by a colony of ants. If only our monkey could talk! He might have asked his caretakers for help.

I know that spending my energies to win friends, influence people, merit respect, and acquire power is foolishness. Again and again I have seen these pursuits backfire. When driven by selfishness, they always do! I also believe that the pursuit of God is categorically the most rewarding pursuit known to Man. I believe this with all my heart, and with all my heart do I commend it to you.

Matthew 6:31-33

So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the unconverted  pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But above all pursue His kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (NET)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 10:39 pm and is filed under Christian Thought. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.