In the World, Not of it

As I sit here and type this, Owen is on my knee, trying to drive his Lego airplane-car across the keyboard. It's Tuesday so my littlest one is attached to my hip, lost and looking for a playmate!

I've been thinking lots lately about how, as a Christian, I am called to live in the world but not to be part of the world. Maybe it is because Christmas is drawing near so everywhere you look one is surround and assaulted by ads that tell you to buy more, that you NEED this or that to be happy. That this new cell phone will help you spend more time with your family (still trying to wrap my head around THAT marketing tool!).

But is it the *stuff* that really makes us happy? That fills that deep need to be content?
Isn't it the *stuff* that drives us to a life of discontent?
Of always wanting more,
believing that we somehow deserve more?
And if we can't have it than we are not meant to be happy?
Of chasing after dust in the wind?

I don't want to raise my kids with that perspective. I want them to grow up being glad to give away, to be content with what they have without always seeking for the newest, biggest, best thing that is out there.

For those treasures will surly decay, leaving them with nothing but sorrow for their striving.

I find myself aching for Truth to be heard, to drown out the lies that more and me are what this life is about. In a society that is very self-focused, I am called to lay down my life and serve those around. To pour out my life as an offering to God, to those around me, to give of what I have so that God, and God alone, will be glorified.

To often I try to make it about me, about wanting that recognition for the ordinary, everyday things I do. But I need to take the time to stop and examine my heart. Am I doing it for the praise and applause of others or am I doing it because it is what I am called by God to do, regardless of who notices?

Because God will always see. 

It's not easy. To surrender that need for acknowledgement, for recognition. It is hard at the end of the day for me to lay it before God, that selfish desire to have the fact that I cleaned the kitchen floor noticed, for a thanks for doing that load of laundry.

Because ultimately it boils down to the fact of WHO I am living this life for. Of WHO I want the glory to go to.

I want to live my life in a way that will shine His glory right back to Him. So that those who are searching, aching to find contentment in a world that offers chaos, will see His light and life and rest easy in Him, knowing that He is the only *stuff* we will ever need to find true joy in life.