Transformation has many phases. No one wakes up one day, and says, “you know what? I have been wrong my whole life about such and so, and so today I am going to change.” No, friends, we all know that we will hang on tooth and nail to any idea, opinion, thought, or behavior that we have adopted as part of our lives, even if we know deep down inside that they could be wrong. Or even a teensy weensy bit wrong. Or even a lot wrong.
It all has to start with some inward realization that things are not going right. In the book, From Woodstock To Eternity, Dustin Morgan has achieved a level of success in the high flying drug dealing, hippie lifestyle, and should be relishing all the benefits of “The Kingdoms of this world and their glory.” But, a gnawing reality start to impress itself upon his conscience, even in his drunken, hallucinating stupor.
“… Morgan quickly slides back into a continuous stupor of all day drinking and partying. He starts losing his grip in many ways, spraining his ankle, stumbling around and cutting his bare feet on broken glass, forgetting where he put his money. He does one more run with Agent Orange only to misplace thousands of dollars; stashing it where he thought he would never forget. He starts shooting up cocaine until it becomes an uncontrollable addiction, draining money and energy from him like a big, black hole.
He is trying to satisfy all the goals of life with the full time pursuit of pleasure. What is the
goal of dealing dope? Isn’t it to escape the lifelong curse of man to work for a living? Now that you don’t have to work, what’s the goal of that? To free you up to do what you want to do all day? And what do most people want to do if they don’t have to work? Party, party, party!!! Right?
After a few months of running around doing nothing all day, eating out at dinner, drinking the night away, Morgan starts to get bored and disillusioned. Is this all there is to it? Is this what life is all about; the end
game? Getting to the point where you don’t have to work so you can eat in restaurants, drink champagne, get high, and have steak and eggs for breakfast?
When he left Woodstock, he had an obsession to escape forever the beans and rice syndrome of handouts and communal living. Once he had enough money, he ate steak
every chance he got. But after a while, his “high on the hog” lifestyle gave him a totally unexpected revelation: No matter how good something is, if you have enough of it, it gets old and routine. The startling conclusion hits him,
“You get tired of steak.”
The point here is that our earthly bodies are wired to become complacent with whatever becomes routine. This is why people can adapt to living in homeless conditions or on welfare day after day, giving up any goals or dreams, and accept their reality. It is also why highly successful people can begin to feel so accustomed to their opulent lifestyle that they are no longer grateful for it, or no longer think it gives them any satisfaction.
So, what is the solution?
You have to think it terms of Eternity! You must become an Eternal Pioneer! Everything
on this earth has an end and can come to the point where you can not get any more. In Eternity, in Christ, we have an unlimited existence with Him that will continue forever.
Colossians 3:2 -4 …Set your mind on things above,
not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.