Passions of Folly in the Fad, Passions of Wisdom for God

LEADERSHIP fads are too easy to fall in love with, if it’s not fashion or the latest craze it’s something else. Something else is always worldly — something that never changes is what we easily fall in love with. The world’s way is we fall in love with the world’s wares. And when we are easily wed to the things of the world, we do not easily see the ruse that takes us away from the Lord.

When we look just past the fad, in a healthy form of scepticism, because the fad sounds just a little too good to be true, we can find passion for what we are truly looking for: God.

Unchanging is God as the passing fads that come and go also do not change.

But the fad promises something empty when the promise of God is chockfull.

The world competes for our attentions in so many seemingly banal ways. And we take the bait hook, line and sinker. But we only need to look past the fad in search for the truth. The truth will be known if only we can see past the sensation. If people are all-a-buzz and there’s no sign of God in it, it’s a fad.

This is all important. We are on an ever-certain journey toward eternity, so only the things of the Lord matter. So much of life is a waste of time. But the things that matter now are the things that matter in eternity, even as we can know them — the things that make a difference relationally, like the transformations that occur; not simply the transactions. Transactions are only important if they are intended to lead to transformations.

Why on earth do we invest so much energy into the tasks of life that make no difference in lives? Making a difference in lives by entering in are the tasks of life, for life. When we hit the ground of life running we completely understand this one thing: the eternal work is in a smile; it’s in a handshake; it’s in the generosity to give up our own position for someone else. It’s in something so irretrievably eternal it will make little sense in the world, but it will make sense in the world of joy within us.

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Idolaters love their fads,

When signs of God are eternal,

Go beyond the unsustainable,

Life without God is infernal.

© 2015 Steve Wickham.