Blockades' to growth: S.M.P. & O.G.T.G.Bad!
According to Wikipedia, "A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally."
Let's go Romans 14:12-14 “each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. 13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.” - (NASB)
When I encounter physical, emotional, or spiritual blockades I’d gain a great advantage if I first stood back and saw things from God's viewpoint - from His viewpoint everything centers and revolves around the Cross.
In John chapter 4 Jesus’ approaches a Samaritan woman at a well asking for a drink of water. He then outlines the difference between drinking from a well that satisfies for a moment and drinking from a well that satisfies forever.
While most individuals focus on the second part of Christ’s offer of “living water” of salvation, it’s easy to overlook Jesus was also deterring people from wrong wells - aka: the shallow waters that temporarily quench thirst, but ultimately hinder spiritual growth. What would be the three main wells our culture goes to again and again - despite the face they satisfy for a moment, only to leave us thirsting for more?
Why do they only satisfy us for a moment? Hmmm.... For me the answer is twofold: 1. The shallow waters momentarily satisfy me but then leave me feeling empty. 2. Muddy wells not only temporarily quench my thirst, but ultimately hinder my personal growth: spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. Let me pull it a bit more personal - what are the three main un-satisfying wells I’ve gone to?
Okay now to be totally transparent!
The first for me would be money & comfort. It’s not just money, because very few people hoard money just to have ‘green.’ Add the comfort from new nice stuff - it’s almost intoxicating, isn’t it? There’s an emotive response I have to trinkets and toys. In this day and age, what’s new becomes old almost within the moment. Therefore, the high of what is new rarely wears off before it’s replaced with something newer. As a consumer I go from trinket to toy, from new thing to new thing, and keep drawing from that well. It feels good for a second. Those new clothes, that new iPhone, this new car, the new gadget; whatever I collect just feels good for a second and makes everything settle for a moment. But if given too long, it loses its power, and it will be time for something new. The new is intoxicating—and some of my closest family members and friends are too inebriated with the stuff of future garage sales to realize we’re drinking sand.
Next in line for me or second would be SEX and RELATIONSHIPS. The second well is the well of "romance"—or companionship, or sex. In the same way money and comfort are not intrinsically evil or wrong, relationships and sex aren’t intrinsically evil or wrong. Everything gets distorted when elevated beyond what God created them for. I’m going to modernize an illustration from C.S. Lewis to express this: Imagine that you could hop on a plane right now, fly to another country, go to its red light district and enter a seedy strip joint. What if they roll out a cart covered with a sheet right next to the pole, and when they pull the sheet back just a little bit, you see just a slice of of bacon? Then they quickly cover it again. Next, they lift the sheet a little more and show you a burger—then cover it up. And finally, they remove the sheet off of the entire cart to reveal a smorgasbord—and people begin throwing ones at it. Wouldn’t you think that something was wrong with how that culture viewed food? Wouldn’t you think: “Hey, something is broken in how they look at burgers. It’s just a burger.” How strange is it that we have pushed relationships and sex to this same broken and bizarre level?
Relationships and sex are beautiful gifts from God. He is the Author and Creator of those things, but when people elevate them beyond where they should be, they leave nothing but heartache and disappointment.
Men and women will never find a significant other who completes them. A fling, a fantasy, a boyfriend or girlfriend—even a spouse—is not going to satisfy what has gone wrong in you. Only Jesus will COMPETE ME 100% - only Jesus can do that.
Why? Because my heart is broken. Because that void I try to fill by money, comfort, SEX, and relationships is really God tugging on my DNA strings towards Himself.
Bottom line: I need a Savior, and no one person can fix it.
The third and final thing I go to is: Respect and Success. I want approval. I crave acceptance and how other people view me within our culture is that third well - aka: Respect and Success. I like you want other people to look at me and really be glad at what they see but that little pat on the back from other is only momentary. What more affirmation is needed than the cross of Jesus Christ? How silly is my “Good job, buddy” compared to the fact that God—knowing you, knowing your motivations—died on the cross for you? Others approve and accept without any knowledge of motives. Someone can have shady, sinful, wicked motives that lead them to do righteous acts in order to get the approval of man, all the while with a wicked heart. God knows your wicked heart, and still Christ died on the cross. Approval is woven into the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, not what men and women think. That’s slavery to humanity. Not to mention that some people are always going to dislike you. In fact, Jesus even warns in John 15:20, “Hey, be nervous if everyone loves you. They persecuted Me, and they persecuted the prophets. This is what happens when you make a stand. People get angry. Be prepared for that.”
How do I recognize I’m digging in the wrong well?
It here I must first ask a few personal questions:
What am I really after? When I lay in bed at night, what am I thinking about? What’s that thing I’m chasing? What is it, that if I got it, would seem to make all of life better?”
For those in college, it may be a degree. For single individuals, it could be a spouse. Maybe it’s a well-paying job, the admiration of colleagues or a dream house. But if someone is pulling up a bucket from the wrong well, it doesn’t matter what’s in it.
Bottom line personal application: I need to be honest about the things that temporally make me feel good and decided if I want to continue pursuing them or chase something satisfying. I need to quit drinking sand and drink water—water that will yield life. Sex, Money, Power, & other Good things have Gone BAD but ONE THING GOOD still reminds.... .....
Taking things back to Romans 14:12-14: - I will give an account to God. - I need to stop passing judgment on myself and others. -I need to be one that go to the source of life verses one that puts up blockades. -I need to check what I’m continue pursuing and putting into my life asking: is it of eternal or momentary value?
God I’m reminded of Proverbs 3:5-6. Once again help me “TRUST in YOU with all my heart and NOT lean on my own understanding. In all my ways HELP me acknowledge YOU, (TRUSTING) YOU will make your paths straight.”- Trevor
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