More Than a Dream Coatনমুনা

HOW MUCH FOR THE COAT?

Can you believe it? I made it work! If I sell my current house, as well as my car, I can afford a little stone cottage by a crystal blue lake. I would need to make a few lifestyle changes, too. For example, planning better for grocery shopping and having fewer holidays. It feels like a small financial price to pay for my dream house.

But then a hollow feeling starts creeping into my stomach once again. Instead of seeing my adult children daily, I would probably only see them once a month at best if I decided to move to the countryside. I would also not be able to be with them for small events like birthdays and the occasional bad day at work. And I start wondering if the price of my long-awaited dream house is too high.

It seems as if Joseph’s brothers also underestimated the cost of the Technicolor Dreamcoat. The moment their father gave Joseph the coat, everything changed. “ .. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph - a beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.” (Genesis 37:3-4, NLT). A long and lonely journey began for Joseph in exchange for the privilege of wearing the beautiful coat.

The enemy has been using the same strategy since the first temptation in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Satan tempts us in the same way that he deceived Adam and Eve about the real cost of eating the forbidden fruit (v. 2-5). Our desire for what we cannot have often makes us blind to the consequences of obtaining it. And no price seems too high to get it.

In the New Testament, James hits the nail on the head. “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them...” (James 4:1-2, NLT). I can’t think of an earthly gift or possession worth the pain and loss caused by damaged relationships.

Who do you know that seems to have it all? Do you think that there may be a very steep price tag attached to it? What are you willing to sacrifice to have it as well?

Let us examine the desires of our hearts by thinking carefully about the cost. And let us find grace and compassion in our hearts for those who pay dearly for a seemingly perfect life. “Better to have little, with fear for the Lord, than to have great treasure and inner turmoil. A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate” (Proverbs 15:16-17, NLT).