The surface of our planet is covered by both water and land. At a touch over 58 million square miles, it constitutes a little less than thirty percent of the earth’s surface. In essence, water overwhelmingly covers the vast majority of it, a bit more than seventy percent. There is an absolute truth in these figures, even if they are arguable to specifics. That truth is that there is a finite amount of both water and land.
As the saying goes, “they’re not making any more land,” and though geologically not entirely true with the struggle of the earth, pushing upward on the tectonic plates producing a bit of land, it still is pretty close to the truth.
It is true that there is not much more land being built.
In our relationship with God, this introduces us to a cardinal concept. We are either going to capture a finite treasure, or one that is not quite so finite in its end. We mostly spend our time on fighting for new ground, and not facing the reality that there is only so much of it there. Turf war has destroyed many good men. I, though young, will tell you that many more will be destroyed before it is over.
As the saying goes, “they’re not making any more land,” and though geologically not entirely true with the struggle of the earth, pushing upward on the tectonic plates producing a bit of land, it still is pretty close to the truth.
It is true that there is not much more land being built.
In our relationship with God, this introduces us to a cardinal concept. We are either going to capture a finite treasure, or one that is not quite so finite in its end. We mostly spend our time on fighting for new ground, and not facing the reality that there is only so much of it there. Turf war has destroyed many good men. I, though young, will tell you that many more will be destroyed before it is over.
The finite treasures of this life- that of wealth, of fortune, of houses and lands, they all are very restricting. They are appetites that are without peer, only one step beyond where you are now. It is the one more house, the one more car. Yet they seem so available and reachable.
This is the final lesson of land: it has limitations that are confining both in body and in mind. Perhaps it is a turf war inside the church, or more limiting, a clash with a fellow pastor. I am telling you that these turf wars are very restrictive and unhealthy.
As with most of life, there is an opposite. That goal, that aspiration that can suddenly lift you beyond lies merely in sight. The aperture of your mind must concentrate the light not on the limitations of land, but on the limitless bounty of something very different. We can spend our days looking down at the land, and never see the bounty of the horizon. Therein lays the truth.
You will follow where your eyes go. If they are cast down, you will fall. Yet in looking up, there is something victorious about that upward gaze that shouts “I am not bound by the frailties of a limited goal, but I am unleashed on the bounties of a greater purchase.”
While the earth basically is not enlarging itself, there is something that is. The harvest field, where when one grain dies, many more are produced in its place, calls us to its better bounty. While the lands in your town aren’t getting any larger, chances are, your population is. You probably don’t need more land. . .
The better goals in life demand that we broadcast, not hoard.
I don’t remember a scripture that tells us that if we gather lands and houses, that we have accomplished much. But it is chock full of “he that wins souls is wise.”
Perhaps our goals get a bit mixed up at times. Refocusing is essential in life.
Make sure that your priorities don’t lean so heavily on things that are finite as much as the infinite things.
This is the final lesson of land: it has limitations that are confining both in body and in mind. Perhaps it is a turf war inside the church, or more limiting, a clash with a fellow pastor. I am telling you that these turf wars are very restrictive and unhealthy.
As with most of life, there is an opposite. That goal, that aspiration that can suddenly lift you beyond lies merely in sight. The aperture of your mind must concentrate the light not on the limitations of land, but on the limitless bounty of something very different. We can spend our days looking down at the land, and never see the bounty of the horizon. Therein lays the truth.
You will follow where your eyes go. If they are cast down, you will fall. Yet in looking up, there is something victorious about that upward gaze that shouts “I am not bound by the frailties of a limited goal, but I am unleashed on the bounties of a greater purchase.”
While the earth basically is not enlarging itself, there is something that is. The harvest field, where when one grain dies, many more are produced in its place, calls us to its better bounty. While the lands in your town aren’t getting any larger, chances are, your population is. You probably don’t need more land. . .
The better goals in life demand that we broadcast, not hoard.
I don’t remember a scripture that tells us that if we gather lands and houses, that we have accomplished much. But it is chock full of “he that wins souls is wise.”
Perhaps our goals get a bit mixed up at times. Refocusing is essential in life.
Make sure that your priorities don’t lean so heavily on things that are finite as much as the infinite things.
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