Sin is deceiving. It tricks humankind into believing that by pursuing our fleshly desires, that we will expand the size of our life and get what we always wanted. What falling mankind tends to do is forget the big picture and worry about the petty things in life such as the car we drive, the job we work, and the husband we marry. These things are all important! BUT! When we make these things our daily drive, that is when we have cut ourselves short.
Transcendence: the state of being beyond and outside of the ordinary range of human experience.
As children of God, we were made to be part of something BIG!!!! We all desire this type of life. We want to be a part of something special, surreal, and magnificent. Something outside of the norm and something that is life changing. Often times we think those magnificent and glorious things can be found by worldly gain. We forget that only Christ can provide us with that type of lifestyle. Only HE can make us part of something important. This is where transcendence comes in. As a Christian, we are naturally granted the ability to be in a "state of being beyond and outside the ordinary range of human experience." God grants us that privilege. But down through the ages, we have cheat ourselves out of such a blessing. Only Christ can fill the gap in our lives that we search all over for. We try to force-fit other things into Christ's spot, but we come up feeling even more empty than before.
An example of this in the Bible is when the Israelites were wondering in the wilderness. The reason they even considered to go back to Egypt was because they were tired of the manna. They were worried about their menu! "The flavor of a God-provided food rose to such a level of importance that they were actually able to look at Egypt as a place with a better menu, rather than the place of slavery and death that it actually was." (quote from Quest for More by Tripp)
This is what we do! We let petty things such as menu, clothes, jobs, sex, money, who drank the last of the OJ, or who forgot to dry the sink mess our day up and control us. We allow these types of things to rise to a level of such importance, that we end up shrinking our lives to such a small size.
"When the enemy somehow tricks you into squeezing the size of your life to the size of your personal dreams, wants, and needs, he has got you right where he wants you," says Tripp. It's a deceitful trap that we, as Christians, must be aware of.
In Genesis 3, there is a disastrous story of two people who were offered "more" and ended up being served way less than the glory they were intended to receive. Adam and Eve listened to the deceitful talk of the devil and fell into the trap of forsaken transcendence. The "more" Adam and Eve were meant to experience was replaced with a worthless "more" provided by the world. They were left unfulfilled.
Just like them, we will be unfulfilled and will never taste the glory we were meant to experience if we search outside of Christ. This IS a struggle! The evidence is everywhere and I see it in my own life. It scares me. What is the "less" that you settle on? I ask myself that same question. What captures our attention and draws us away from the all satisfying Christ? What glory will we live for each and every day of our life? Are we living for the glory of Almighty God, expanding our life's border as far as the Lord allows them to reach? Or are we shrinking our lives to the measly boundary of our own fences and trashy kingdoms?
Let our prayer be that we experience the true transcendence meant for us and that Christ would help us let go of the "less" we hold so tightly to.
I want so bad to experience God's best for my life. Only then will I find true joy and fulfillment. When the "less" in my life is where it needs to be (WAY below Christ's place) then Christ will have his deserved position. God, help me to allow you to be my "more."
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