The Donut in My Eye

Hebrews 1:10,11 The heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain . . .

It is the week before Christmas, and to celebrate Jesus birth, I have piles of candy sitting around work and home. Though I would like to wake up January first and step on the scale, not having eaten any of it, what I want right now is to eat it all.

This is my life problem. Though I want to live with my gaze on that which is good and right in the long run, I cannot see past my next snack. My appetite for the immediate, continually obstructs my vision. I want to love God and neighbor, but right now, I just want to sit on the couch and stuff myself. I have a donut stuck in my eye.

The eternal language, in today’s passage, challenges me to attempt a perspective that looks beyond my immediate appetite. In it, the author draws a contrast between that which is temporary and that which is everlasting. The world, and all its stuff, will one day mean nothing to me. What then will remain? What truly matters?

My appetite insists that what I want right now matters. God however, insists that money, stuff and donuts do not really bring authentic meaning to my existence. It is not that I cannot find any pleasure in those things. It is just that the temporary is not the purpose of my life.

Right now, I can participate in that which will last an eternity. I can pursue my relationship with God and I can love my neighbor, telling of what Christ has done for me. I can spend time and energy today on that which will truly mean something in a thousand years, or, I can pursue me and my appetite.

This is not just about candy or donuts. This is about anything that I pursue to the detriment of God and the eternal. If I want to participate in that which truly matters, I must daily have the discipline to engage in activities that turn my gaze from self to God. I must daily, choose to remove the donut from my eye.