Recently I have been reading The PAPA Prayer by Larry Crabb. I have been struck by his incites and his transparency. One of the chapters dealt with the value of not confusing things of first importance with those of second.
In the discipline of prayer the value of closeness with a Father rather than closeness of what I perceive as my due (a more polite way of stating this is to call it a “need”.) becomes the difference between first things and second things.
“People who get close to Christ often see good things happen.” (Fill in the blank of good things with your particular struggle or concern.) Crabb terms this a second-thing blessing. He goes so far as to demand a celebration when a second-ting blessing arrives. But then the warning, “second-thing blessings can feel so good that we start thinking they are “first-things.”
In the discipline of prayer the value of closeness with a Father rather than closeness of what I perceive as my due (a more polite way of stating this is to call it a “need”.) becomes the difference between first things and second things.
“People who get close to Christ often see good things happen.” (Fill in the blank of good things with your particular struggle or concern.) Crabb terms this a second-thing blessing. He goes so far as to demand a celebration when a second-ting blessing arrives. But then the warning, “second-thing blessings can feel so good that we start thinking they are “first-things.”
God warned the nation of Israel of the same:
“When you have eaten and are satisfied,
praise the Lord your God
for the good land he has given you. (celebrate?)
…be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God…
Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied
(whatever you filled the blank in with above, i.e. your husband/wife, a child, finances…)
…you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery…
Deuteronomy 8:10-14
…you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery…
Deuteronomy 8:10-14
“In this life, the feeling of satisfaction that comes when a marriage improves or a child turns back to God, or an inheritance solves our financial problems or a career takes off often feels stronger and brings more pleasure than our experience of God. We are foolish to dampen that pleasure, but we are in danger of living for it, of thinking that blessing from God satisfies our souls more deeply than God himself.” (Crabb, The PAPA Prayer)
To be clear, the relationship and experience of God is the first-thing and the result of a changed situation is a second-thing.
How can this possibly be? Might it be that our relationship with God is so shallow that the pleasure it brings really is less than the pleasure we feel when life goes well.
May I find my life in Christ and the love of a Father God which sustains me! And may it be so for you also.
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