I think we have all had the experience of seeing something that we WANT....whether a purchase we want to make, ...or physical lust (outside of marriage)...I really wrote this piece to speak about materialism. I once struggled so much with this greediness (and that's what it is--which Scripture calls Idolatry), that I once invited someone into my house and showed them around...showed them my "treasures" and told them, "Please take anything you want. Don't be afraid of hurting me. I need to loosen my grip on my possessions."
The night before, I thought of each of my special things and said "goodbye" to it.
I acknowledged before God that these are temporary things with no eternal value and I acknowledged that I valued them too much. I asked God to break that power in me. And this is something you may have to do more than once in your lifetime.
Mammon is sneaky and powerful...we must be alert to the roaring lion and send him packing. My poem can also be read as though it was speaking of sexual sin...hobbies and habits that are outside of God's rule and reign in our lives.
IF ONLY
by Cynthia Lott Vogel
In my mind the seed of temptation takes root,
A tantalizing thought-
Desire
That lingers and causes my eyes to pause-
Lust.
I do not turn my gaze from the treasure
to the heavens for aid or for
Power to resist-
Because the bait I long to bite,
Never mind that within the delicious morsel
Lies a barb
That can reel me in
To Unwelcome Shores.
So when the union of lust and desire is complete,
I give birth
To traitorous Sin:
The profanity is magnified for
I desire other than Christ.
If, from His springs, my thirst were slacked,
My heart would own no gap-
No quarters large enough for mundane treasure to fill
That were not already replete
With the Satisfaction and sweet Joy of His Presence.
No longer, emptiness or need beyond Him to satisfy.
No idolatrous monsters to conceive.
My heart would be His to possess
To Thrill
And to Satisfy.
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