ELUSIVE THINGS
Elusive by definition means to avoid or escape from; hard to grasp or retain. It means to get away. Catching birds or lizards may be an elusive game. Some old country song had these lyrics - “I saw a dollar the other day, but the wind blew it away.” Another old song of the late century had these lyrics - “slip sliding away.” Well, is the fabric of this world elusive by nature? Just look at the list below:
- Love & friendship. Ever lose a lover or a good friend?
- Family harmony. You may have it for a while but then your kids will become teenagers.
- Money. Ever had a shortage of the green stuff? (Do dogs have 4 feet and a tail and eat dog cookies?)
- Happiness. This is an art and a delicate balance. The demons of hell look for it & try their best to kill it. - Sleep. Lay in the sack & not sleep all night - sometimes sleep is the most elusive.
- Peace & Quiet. Doomed on this planet. If you find it, someone will come along with a boom-box or chain saw & assassinate your P & Q post haste.
- Freedom. Ask any person in jail if freedom isn’t elusive.
- Truth & Justice. Remember the most famous slam against truth ever - “What is truth?” (Pilate). If God in the flesh can come up short of truth & justice, the rest of us are in trouble for sure -especially in the state of Arizona.
- Youth & beauty. Every morning, I look in the mirror & say, “this is not my life. Where did that old wobbly guy come from?”
- Ambition & goals & energy. “Slip sliding away.”
- Optimism. The power of positive thinking might need some help at times.
- Health. Why are doctors wealthy? Because health is elusive & people are willing to pay a lot to hang on to it. (Question is, do they get their $ worth? - they still grow old and die.)
- Time. This one is like money - hard to hold on to, and it goes faster all the time.
- Ethical integrity. “All have sinned and come short. . ." (Paul the Apostle)
The things above are exactly what we live for, but they are elusive. What can we do about it? Lose hope or sanity? Go on a fling? Jump off a bridge? Unfortunately, People do respond in those ways too often. Could it be that the elusive things of this world are planned that way? Is the purpose of life to reduce us down to a position of weakness and a lack of glamour, so we will look up to God? Is our pride and success not really compatible with our best eternal destiny anyway?
I believe life is a transition process - going from one phase to the next and generally dealing with challenges. And in spite of all the elusive things we live with, our souls can do well. Some have said “its religion when I die.” I say the best approach is to catch the Spirit while young and tap into God’s blessing and presence early. (See Link 28 “What’s in it for me?”) Connect with Christ today and let someone else fret about the elusive. Grow old in style and pass into God’s best kingdom where nothing is elusive. For a picture of it see Revelation 21 & 22.
-- “He made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him.” Acts 17:26-27
-- “I have been young and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”
Psalm 37:25
-- "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4
-- “Behold now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2
Choose Jesus - He is alive. And be blessed in spite of elusive things.
Many other interesting titles: www.gospelnotes.org * * F. J. Stone * *
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