Don't Sacrifice True Happiness for a Cheap Substitute

I walked into the living room where the 20 foot Christmas tree towered above me like a skyscraper.

Pop handed me the Christmas gift with red wrapping paper. I ripped it off and held in my hands my very first toolbox. 

This had to be the greatest day of my life. 

My dad built custom homes for a living. I loved building things. But what thrilled me most was that just like Pop, I now had my own toolbox too.  

That sense of connection with my Dad delighted my heart. I felt proud to stand in his shadow. 

I believe this is something like how God wants us to view Him when he gives us gifts. 

But then something happened. The toolbox that bonded me with my dad, now drove a wedge between me and my dad. It happened when I got angry at Pop for telling me to put the toolbox away and help with chores.  

That delight and sense of connection had evaporated. But here is where it gets tricky. Things didn't go wrong when my dad told me to put away the beloved toolbox and help with chores. The shift happened before that. It happened when I treasured the toolbox more than my Pop. 

When we hitch our happiness to the gift instead of the Giver, we have sacrificed true happiness for a cheap substitute that will never fulfill. And then we spend the rest of our life trying to fill that emptiness, but for some strange reason, the void only gets bigger. 

You don’t have to live this way. You can choose to experience genuine peace and joy right now, today, when you put your delight in Jesus Christ who gave you air to breathe, food to eat, and a place to sleep. 

If you are depending on closing that sale, having sex with your wife, watching your son sack the quarterback, or breaking your 300lb lift record at the gym to make your day, you are set up for disappointment, sooner or later. 

These are all great things and should be enjoyed. But if you lean onto them, depend on them, hope in them, your sense of peace will become as unpredictable and erratic as a Texas tornado. 

Yes, God put it in the heart of every man to drive hard to succeed, build things, make things, see results, create wealth, and to enjoy a happy life with his wife and children. This is natural and God-given. 

So go for it! Win the heart of a gorgeous woman who loves Jesus. Build a business that makes millions. Grow a family who impacts the world for good. 

But here is where we screw it up: when we place our hope in those gifts and opportunities instead of the One who gifted us with those things in the first place. 

God, in his all-wise goodness, could strip you and me of everything. Consider Job. The dude had it all. But in a matter of days, he lost it all. (Oh wait–at least he still had a wife–the one who encouraged him to curse God then commit suicide.) 

Your gifts, resources, family, health, and toys are not guaranteed. Like a fading dream, they could be gone tomorrow. So today, place your hope in the only One who will never leave you, Jesus Christ. 

​​“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” ~ Jesus (John 15:5).