“How the gold has lost its luster, the fine gold become dull! The sacred gems are scattered at every street corner.” Lamentations 4:1

It is a fact that has been proven beyond all doubt. When it comes to eating dinner, it is actually cheaper and less painful for my wife and I to eat OUT than to stay home and cook for ourselves. WHY? Two things… uncertainty and craving. O.K….ONE thing… discipline! We never know what we REALLY want.. and when buying ANYTHING at the store… and SINCE there are SO many choices, we actually end up spending MORE time and money sorting through the choices than if we’d gone to Burger King. And so it is with life!

As dinner time approached, I had a craving. I KNEW what I wanted to eat, but also knew that Katie wasn’t that interested in picking the place. But it didn’t matter. The place ‘I’ was wanting to go was a place SHE loved as well. It APPEARED a win-win situation. Even more-so, since I had a coupon AND a gift card! It all went well … until it didn’t!

Have you ever noticed that cravings can be very deceptive? Born of desire, cravings PROMISE something that SEEMS to be better than it actually is. A craving can actually accentuate the idea that THIS THING will REALLY satisfy me! Which makes its failure worse than normal when it doesn’t. Such was the case with the choice of food. Everything was just a little off… and in the end, disappointment was NOT our friend!

The children of Israel were God’s kids. He was MORE than just particularly fond of them. Unlike the situation in the Garden of Eden, where God said “Don’t” just once, He had REPEATEDLY told them “DO NOT” with LONG explanations as to WHY they were to obey Him. AND He even added what would happen if they didn’t. And here, in Lamentations, they lie at last. With Jerusalem destroyed and “God’s chosen people” killed or ripped from their land. It APPEARED that the punishment did not fit the crime! How could a little craving have led to such complete destruction?

You and I are the gold and gems of Jesus Christ. I know it makes no sense to us… but isn’t that why we were created in the first place… to SHINE and reflect HIS Glory? The only problem is that pesky little CRAVING of independence. A desire to do things OUR way instead of His. And like a plague, desire, when full grown, soon contaminates EVERYTHING. Like old gold, we lose our shine. Like lost gems, regret becomes our daily food.

This Easter season is a good time to reflect on what it is we TRULY desire. Will doing things MY way lead to satisfaction… or destruction? Will I SHINE for Him or will I be lost in a dusty place? Easter reminds that Christ came to rescue me FOR Himself. His reach, seemingly beyond His grasp, stretched across a cross and spanned the abyss of death itself. But it STOPPED… just laying there at the threshold of my heart. All because TRUE love demands there be a choice. And choice is ALWAYS influenced by desire. How badly do I really want HIM? He is waiting for my answer, which will be proved by the very next step I take. Really!