Jesus said: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Last week we spent time talking about your soul and about how your soul has an appetite. Fill it with the wrong thing and be eternally corroded; fill it with the right thing and be eternally contented.

We’re going to spend a few days on “wrong things,” contrasted with right things.

Here’s the first: feel-good pleasures, experiences and escapes.

Now don’t get me wrong. There are definitely some things which fall into this category which are good. Who doesn’t like a massage or a trip to the tropics once in a while? I do!

The problem is when you organize your life around those things to a disproportionate degree. If the focus of our lives is only on the accumulation of these happy-but-fleeting experiences, and if our sense of purpose becomes too closely aligned with them, we’ve jumped onto a hamster wheel that is facing the wrong direction and won’t get us to where God wants us to go.

Life is hard. I get it. We need some experiences which lift our spirits once in a while. But don’t mistakenly think that frills will satisfy the deepest longings of your soul.

Have some fun and take a rest, sure. But those things are intended to renew us in our purpose to know, love, serve and glorify God, and to be his hands and feet in the world.

Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Be ready, be well, and be rested—and keep your eye on the (ultimate) prize.

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Notes:

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.