Ever been in a position where you looked the other way from what was right so you could do something you knew you shouldn’t? I have many times, more than I care to ever admit, but carry around the ‘shame’ with me daily.
It sure wasn’t as black and white or as purposeful as – “I know this is wrong, but I’m going to do it anyway.” It’s more like an inner whisper coaxing me and using justification to speak directly to my inner fears and pains to make the words ‘you deserve it’ take hold of my pride and move me to do the wrong thing.
Some of the most recent examples of this are when I’m angry with my husband and can justify being a snot or having a poor attitude or worse yet – act spitefully. The other day I was so upset with some work issues, that I convinced myself that I deserved the 3rd glass of wine and a bowl of ice cream – a big bowl of ice cream. Some of my past “I deserve this moment” was using my credit card to spend way-way more money than I’d make because it made me feel better. (until the bill came) Other times I deserved a man’s attention or someone to take me on a date… It’s so easy to convince myself I deserve an awful lot, but honestly, those are lies that lead directly to foolishness. Each one of those choices was fine at the moment, however each time I choose to follow my foolishness, I always ended up in ever more pain than I began with.
“Lovers of God hunger after truth, but those without understanding feast on foolishness and don’t even realize it.” Proverbs 15:14 TPT
Our world, in some way or another, tells us that we deserve a whole bunch of stuff. Trust me, we have an easy enough time telling that to ourselves, now each commercial or person we meet tells us “you only live once” or “Oh honey, you deserve____. For all you’ve been through”.
If we continue to chase the foolishness of instant gratification, we will create a continuous spiral of foolishness. See, what we do is we feel pain, so we reach for a quick fix, which usually leads us to more pain. So to fix the new pain, we reach, again, for another quick fix… This goes on and on until we wake up and seek truth!
Take off your blinders and feel the honesty of your pain, really feel it. Then don’t turn to the quick fix. The quick pleasure is just a band-aid for the wound in your heart that needs stitches and continuous care. If you’re feasting on quick fixes for your sadness and pain – you’re feasting on foolishness. Turn from your ways and be the wise person God created you to be and see His mighty and lasting Truth! Let His truth and His word heal your life.
There is only one cure for our pain, sadness, weakness… and it’s Jesus.
