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Chasing After The Wrong Things

"Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor."
Proverbs 21:21

The things we chase: life, prosperity, and honor.

We want to live life in the fullest way. Doing fun things, going great places, experiencing awesome stuff.  We plan great vacations, incredible excursions, and recreation is not just something that happens, it is an event. An event that is planned, produced, supported financially, and held up like an idol in our lives.

We build great homes to live our lives in. The bigger the better. We buy great cars to drive through our lives in, complete with all the bells and whistles. We purchase great clothes to wear as we live our lives.

We do all of this to find life, whatever that means or whatever that looks like. For each of us, according to cultural standards, it is different. But we chase after life, primarily through things, events, and happenings. This is life.

We chase prosperity through jobs, and new jobs, and different jobs. All trying to get ahead. A new venture here, another new venture there. After all, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? We invest, we gamble, we live frugally, we withhold from that which we have deemed unimportant, and we mortgage ourselves into the deepest of pits to chase and to realize prosperity.

We create the image of prosperity through things: homes, cars, clothes. Even if we aren't truly prosperous, on the outside it appears that we are and that's at least half the battle.

We chase honor through recognition and authority and leadership, assumed or otherwise. If the recognition isn't given to us, we can create it for ourselves. Social media has become a platform of self-recognition and self-honor, a breeding ground of pride and loathing all at the same time.

We crave authority and when it is not given to us, we draw a line of divide and go another route. Surely someone will follow me now.

The leadership we so desire, if not given to us, is assumed as we venture out on our own, neglecting the clear lines of authority placed in our lives by tradition and culture. Those lines mean nothing if I desire to be my own boss, or even better, the boss of another.

All of this may seem bizarre or outlandish, but it is all true. It is who we have become. It is the heart of our culture and of our society, because instead of pursuing righteousness and love, we pursue life, prosperity, and honor.

God says that the pursuit of righteousness - living a morally right and justified life in the eyes of our Creator God - is to be our goal in life. We pursue this righteousness by striving to live like Jesus Christ, who was the ultimate demonstration of righteousness.  We are called to be a mirror reflection of Christ.

The proverb says that if we will pursue righteousness and if we will pursue being a people of love, these other things we are looking for (life, prosperity, honor) will come. In due time, according to the will and desire of God, they will come.

Stop chasing after the wrong things and chase after the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Learn to love as Jesus loved.

And all these things will be added to you.

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