This article was first posted on my friend, Ayo Ayco's blog site late last year:
The Absorbing Man: Sportz Car ('Yung Red)
The Absorbing Man: Sportz Car ('Yung Red)
CS Lewis once said that if he found desires in himself that this world cannot satisfy, he can only conclude that he was not made for this world.
I believe at one point in our lives, we experienced dreaming of having a particular thing and was convinced that we'll be really fulfilled once we get it. If you are currently in that stage, I'll be honored to be the one to burst your bubble--you will not. You see, all things in this world are temporal; and the happiness they provide, just like them, are temporal too. You may dream of getting a nice laptop, or a super-fast sports car ('yung red), or a degree from a top university, or a seemingly prestigious profession believing that those will make you happy. Maybe they will, but surely for a short time only.
I believe one of the greatest jokes of this world is to make us all anchor our purpose on something that we can find on this earth. This is because I am convinced that our purpose is something a lot bigger, something not limited to this world, and something eternal... That is to worship God.
This abstract concept of worshipping God is a lot more than just singing songs during church activities. In fact, it should encompass everything in our lives. I am convinced that whatever we have (our possessions, skills, status, relationships, jobs, etc.), however big or small they are, is just a tool to worship God. You know tools? We acquire them to use them for a task. Say in carpentry, you don't buy a hammer so that you can display it in your house; you buy one so that you can work on a carpentry task. It would be funny and shallow to buy that hammer not thinking of it as a tool but rather as an end, right? Say, buying it for the sake of buying it. You see, we buy tools to use them. Of course not all tools are cheap and can be bought easily like hammer but nonetheless, when we think of buying them, our purpose is that we'll use them.
Now, God gives us what we have as tools so that we can worship him in a lot of ways. Think and examine the "tools" for worship that you have right now. That college degree you're working so hard for, the relationships that you have or are aspiring to have, the material possessions you're praying for... Why do you want these things? Do you see them as tools to worship God or do you look at them simply as an end?
If they're ends for you instead of tools I would like to congratulate you because you are in a fast track to a life of shallow happiness and deep emptiness. The world so far has been successful in luring many people into that big joke. But there's good news. If you are not there yet, it means you can change course. It is not a coincidence that you're reading this. I believe you're reading this because God wants to remind you about your purpose--which is not of this world. I hope that whatever you desire and whatever you have right now, you will see them in the light of God's truth--that they're not the ends but are just means to the purpose of your existence here on earth; which is just a small part of your real existence in eternity.
I believe at one point in our lives, we experienced dreaming of having a particular thing and was convinced that we'll be really fulfilled once we get it. If you are currently in that stage, I'll be honored to be the one to burst your bubble--you will not. You see, all things in this world are temporal; and the happiness they provide, just like them, are temporal too. You may dream of getting a nice laptop, or a super-fast sports car ('yung red), or a degree from a top university, or a seemingly prestigious profession believing that those will make you happy. Maybe they will, but surely for a short time only.
I believe one of the greatest jokes of this world is to make us all anchor our purpose on something that we can find on this earth. This is because I am convinced that our purpose is something a lot bigger, something not limited to this world, and something eternal... That is to worship God.
This abstract concept of worshipping God is a lot more than just singing songs during church activities. In fact, it should encompass everything in our lives. I am convinced that whatever we have (our possessions, skills, status, relationships, jobs, etc.), however big or small they are, is just a tool to worship God. You know tools? We acquire them to use them for a task. Say in carpentry, you don't buy a hammer so that you can display it in your house; you buy one so that you can work on a carpentry task. It would be funny and shallow to buy that hammer not thinking of it as a tool but rather as an end, right? Say, buying it for the sake of buying it. You see, we buy tools to use them. Of course not all tools are cheap and can be bought easily like hammer but nonetheless, when we think of buying them, our purpose is that we'll use them.
Now, God gives us what we have as tools so that we can worship him in a lot of ways. Think and examine the "tools" for worship that you have right now. That college degree you're working so hard for, the relationships that you have or are aspiring to have, the material possessions you're praying for... Why do you want these things? Do you see them as tools to worship God or do you look at them simply as an end?
If they're ends for you instead of tools I would like to congratulate you because you are in a fast track to a life of shallow happiness and deep emptiness. The world so far has been successful in luring many people into that big joke. But there's good news. If you are not there yet, it means you can change course. It is not a coincidence that you're reading this. I believe you're reading this because God wants to remind you about your purpose--which is not of this world. I hope that whatever you desire and whatever you have right now, you will see them in the light of God's truth--that they're not the ends but are just means to the purpose of your existence here on earth; which is just a small part of your real existence in eternity.
