"May you find what you are looking for"
That this was a curse was difficult to wrap my head around.
How can you curse someone by granting him all his heart desires?
With time and some observation, it got easier to accept that most men are desirous of their own downfall.
In their pursuit to find what is GOOD to them, they pay more than they thought they would.
A story comes to mind of a very poor man who the gods gifted a genie to. The genie was to grant his every wish. all was good at first. He wanted simple things, the happiness of his family and himself.
However greed started to kick in. This, once poor man became greedy and proud, wanting too much.
His end came however, when he which for a lot of money. His words in particular where
"I wish I was covered in more gold than 10 men can carry."
In granting him his wish, the genie covered him all up in liquid gold. Needless to say, he died.
The greed of man allows him to be the cause of his own downfall.
In our pursuits in life, it is advisable that we should all be mindful and keep our greed in check.
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The quote today "be careful what you set your heart upon, for it will surely be yours" and also the "May you find what you are looking for", remind me of two things. First, when I was a kid and I first began praying, I was not at that time Christian, but I knew a couple christians who taught me how to pray to God.
So I would pray for things, and I remember being very concerned I would word the prayers wrong, that I might ask for something that would be twisted upon me, in a tricky way. Like God was waiting to hurt me through my own misguided prayers... of course that's not how God works but nevertheless there is truth in what I was doing.
There is truth in the fact that we need to be careful over what we pray, and ask. We need to be cautious about our requests NOT because God will twist our words and trap us, but because what we ask should be aimed at pleasing God, and doing His will, and bringing His Kingdom. If not then we are asking the wrong things.
Therefore its alwasy important to ask why we want something in the first place, and ask ourselves what if God said NO. Would we still trust God? Look at Abraham, he trusted God completely with Isaac's life:
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. (Genesis 22:8, NIV)
Second thing that comes to mind is how the bible says narrow is the path that leads to life. This always makes me think of a sword, with two edges. Let me try to explain.
So everything in life, as far as I can tell, can be used for good or evil. Sexuality, money, humour, time, even Love. If you use the thing as intended by God, you will use it rightly, and in a good way. If you use the thing NOT as He intended, then you will twist it, and make it bad.
Take money for instance, with money you can feed the poor, clothe the naked, and educate the ignorant. You can build hospitals, churches and schools. But only if your heart is set on building His Kingdom. If your heart is set on your own kingdom, then you will never spend your money in these ways, and in fact you will twist the tool ("money") into something dark and evil. You will spend it all on self, ego, pride, and you will make it your idol, and you will worship it, or yourself in a way that leads to death.
All of life is this way, in my view. This is why the path to life is narrow, because even good things can be used wrong, so people aiming to be righteous have very little room for proper application. And as a side note, I think this is why the bible says no one is good, and everyone falls short of the glory of God, meaning that we are, despite best efforts inadequate.
Which to bring it all home, makes God's grace and mercy so much more beautiful. His forgiveness is truly remarkable, because it is so BIG, so undeserved, and so unusual.
Anyways, thanks for the content. Have an awesome day!
Well said... Man can only go wrong outside the will of God.