Dec 17
Today’s Truth
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10 NIV).
Friend to Friend
Yard sales. I’ve never really liked them. But when we were preparing to move from our home of twenty years, we decided it was the best 
way to clean out the clutter and make a little money.
We displayed our lovely attic décor on makeshift plywood tables and waited for the bargain babes to descend. Two hours before the advertised opening time, treasure hunters began congregating outside the closed garage doors. Then, the doors rose and the swarm attacked.
Among the valuables from my past sat an electric, ceramic 12” Christmas tree with various colored lights…no doubt a gift from the eighties. One woman perused the lovely display and came upon this “magnificent work of art.”
“I’ve always wanted one of these!” she declared with excitement in her voice. “How much is it?”
“Three dollars,” my husband, Steve, answered.
“Humph,” she grunted and walked on.
Steve and I just looked at each other and stifled our laughter.
Let’s rewind the scene for a moment. This woman said she had always wanted a ceramic Christmas tree just like that one. (I’m not here to judge another person’s dreams. That’s just what she said.) Always. Her whole life. And here it was! For a mere $3, her dream could have come true! The search over! Most likely we would have sacrificed this masterpiece for $2, but she didn’t even ask. She just shrugged and walked away.
As I watched the woman walk away, I thought about the Pharisees in the Bible. For years they waited for the coming of the promised Messiah. Prayed about it. Preached about it. Prepared for it.
Then when Jesus showed up, they turned their backs and walked away. “Humph,” they said with a shrug. “No thanks.”
But am I much different? Maybe not about yard sale treasures or Jesus, but other desires?
How many times do we long for a particular dream to come true in our lives? Search for it. Obsess over it. A husband. A child. A job. A home.
Then one day, there it is! It can be ours! The search is over. We say our “I do’s,” bring home the bundle of joy, log in our first eight hours, hang the last curtain.
But then, a little time passes. The husband is not as romantic as we had hoped, the kids are not as obedient as we had imagined, the job isn’t as rewarding as we had envisioned, and the house is a never-ending maze of maintenance.
“Humph,” we grumble. We thought we wanted something, and then when we got it, we decided we really didn’t want it after all.
Let me take it one step further. How many times do we long for love, joy, and peace in our lives? We search for it, long for it, and pray about it. Then someone points us to the cross and says, “There it is. It can be yours for the asking. It’s not even $3, $2 or $1. It’s free!”
Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV). He’s what we’ve been looking for! Nothing satisfies the soul like what Jesus supplies for me.
Dear friend, God is holding out His Holy hand with the most magnificent gift of all time. Love, joy, and peace personified in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is what you have always been longing for, searching for, watching for. The joy you’ve wanted all your life.
Let’s Pray
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for making all my dreams come true. You have given me everything I have ever longed for in the person of Jesus Christ. Please forgive me for turning my back on Your amazing Gift and trying to fill my longings with people and possessions. I know that nothing will ever satisfy my desire for peace, love, and joy except Jesus.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Now It’s Your Turn
Have you ever searched and searched for something, and then when you found it, you realized it wasn’t so great after all? Make a list. If you’re like me, it is probably long…if you’re honest. Click on comment and share three.
What do you think Jesus means in today’s truth by “life to the full?”
More from the Girlfriends
Do you long for something more in your relationship with God? The good news is that “something more” does not mean “doing more.” Learn how to experience God’s presence right smack dab in the middle of your busy day in Sharon’s book, A Sudden Glory: God’s Lavish Response to Your Ache for Something More.
Click here to watch a 1:38 minute video of Sharon’s dog Molly talking about being careful what you ask for!
© 2021 by Sharon Jaynes. All rights reserved.
Bless you, Sharon
Your writing this am made me smile!
I am very sentimental about those ceramic Christmas trees. I have a micro-mini, a 5″ tree and a 8″ one. My Mom had the big tree that you mentioned, and I had to sell her’s at a house hold sale, before she moved into a nursing home. (Everything needed to be used to earn money to get her there, so I do think of that tree she loved, at Christmas time.)
At my Bible study this week, we were talking about the passage in Matt.6:19-20. Jesus spoke of the “treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal”. I’d say, the treasures we think are valuable, end up on a folding table, in a house hold sale.
At Bible study, I thought God wants us to enjoy the blessings He does provide for us, through our hard work. He just doesn’t want us to become attached.
Jesus wants the best for us. Just the things that money doesn’t provide.
Thanks, Sharon. This message really hit home for me today.
And now they are back on the shelves!
This was great!! I love how you tied it all together. Before I knew God, I was searching for Him. I remember that ache, that longing, that emptiness. I thought that volunteering might help. I thought that going back to school might help. I thought that changing careers might help. Wrong. It was God I was looking for, and I am so incredibly thankful for Him each and every day. My life has not been the same!
Me too.
Aloha and good morning! This was a great reminder to not look too far for what God may have for us. Bless you ladies this Christmas season.
Amen
Hi ladies
I would say my first is this job i took i thought i wanted it until i learned how messy back stabbing the eoman in the office was.
It has been so many item i thought i wanted just to run them back to the store after bringing them home.
Now in life i want more and more of God in his word to keep me sane along with peace at 58 it means the world to me!!!
Oftentimes what I want and what I need are very different. God is teaching me patience. I have been my own thief, robbing myself of His goodness by trying to do things my way. I have blocked myself from His spirit by grasping at things to fill the emptiness. God is revealing Himself in my life, and I am thankul for His disicipline.