TRADING FRIES
Read Time: 4 min 18 sec
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We are never nearer Christ than when we find ourselves lost in a holy amazement at His unspeakable love.”
John Owen
THE GOOD STUFF
TRADING FRIES
by Alex Ridge | Intern at Redeemer
I don’t remember a lot about growing up, but I could easily say one of the best experiences was leaving school for a doctor's appointment and coming back to school with a warm bag of McDonald's for all of my classmates to see. Sitting down in the rustling lunchroom with my fries, nuggets, and Dr. Pepper. (Some of you might not have chosen Dr. Pepper, and that’s alright.) The awe, wonder, and excitement of my friends as they would try and convince me to give them a fry or even a nugget.
Memories of trading lunches with one another at the school table. You bring in leftovers from the night before that your dad made which honestly smell like alien food, and someone sitting across from you has a Lunchable and Go-gurt (For those of you who don't know what Go-gurt was, I’m sorry). So you try and trade pieces of your home-cooked leftovers for some cheap food that probably isn't as good for you.
I think we can all relate to this in some way as these tendencies have manifested themselves in our lives today where we have one thing in front of us, and we seek again and again to try and trade it for something that we believe is beneficial, or something we’re convinced we deserve or desire more. Sleeping in when our alarms go off instead of getting up early and reading scripture before work. Watching another episode of our favorite shows instead of taking time to pray over the troubles in our hearts, or slapping on our favorite tunes in the car instead of listening to a worship playlist.
This isn't me saying that we can't allow ourselves to enjoy life in different ways, but those seemingly small sacrifices can amount to an extraordinary disconnect from our desire to seek and connect with the Lord. Do you ever find yourself wondering when the last time was that you listened to a worship playlist or the last time you truly sat down to pray over the troubles of your heart and on the hearts of those around you? It’s like we've been trading our parent's home-cooked meals for the crackers in someone's Lunchable, and I couldn’t tell you what I would do for another home-cooked meal from my father.
"Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?’ And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him." - Matthew 26:14-16
Though I’m not literally betraying the Lord's life for thirty pieces of silver, I do betray him with a kiss. A kiss made of snoozed alarms, prideful desires, and selfish ambitions that have disguised themselves as immensely beautiful things. So I am led to question myself more often than not. What things have I allowed to sneak their way into the places of my life that belong to the Lord? How can I better keep those places holy and dedicated to the Lord? What seemingly harmless things am I doing that have the potential to become harmful to my faith? Am I setting and staying dedicated to a time to read scripture and pray?
Let us ponder these questions and remind ourselves of the beauty in which the Gospel holds. Let us remind ourselves that “The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:17) Let us seek as a family of believers to dedicate and rededicate the seemingly mindless activities we do for the glorifying and edifying works that the Lord has commanded us to do, by setting up rhythms, holding one another accountable, and sharing what the Lord has revealed to us in our times of seeking Him.