Let Your ‘Glowing Red Bug’ Be Jesus

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”’ (Hebrews 13:5)

As I am at my desk working on this blogpost, I keep getting visits from our kitties, Leta and Lacey.  Leta comes in, looks up at me, and wants to jump up on me then my desk to get a big hug.  Lacey comes in, looks at me, then as I look down on her she zooms out of the room and out of sight.  After a few minutes, she repeats this activity – I know not why.  I have to get batteries to re-introduce them to the ‘glowing red bug’ (aka, the laser pointer). 

They’re either playing with their toys, or coming into my office, or sitting with my spouse and I on the couch and, when they look away from us or are watching TV (yes, our cats watch the nature videos where animals snack on food left in the woods, or squirrels coming up to a window to eat nuts by hand), I take the laser and shine it on the wall.  They immediately go after it like a tiger goes after a gazelle – zoom!  Then, they stare intently at the ‘red bug’ on the wall before jumping and pawing at it, then I move it over and like radar their heads turn to follow before pouncing at it, but never catching it.

Of course, it’s funny for us to watch the cats go after ‘the red bug’, but I’m sure to them it’s a bit frustrating (although it’s good to get them away from sitting around; perhaps I should try to chase down the ‘red bug’ myself).  Now they, being cats, are wired to be a predator (although as house cats their prey is typically either stuffed mice or the bowl of ‘pate’ cat food each evening) so it’s natural they react to the ‘red bug’ as a predator would, namely attempt to pounce and capture it.  At some point, they give up on attempting to capture it if/when they realize it is futile to get it. 

We are not wired to be predators, necessarily, but ‘bright shiny things’ attract us that sometimes stop us in our tracks.  It’s that latest thing on the commercial that makes us go ‘Hmmm’, or the new car on the lot that has that certain style, or that plant in Home Depot as you walk past, that has that shade of purple that you’ve never seen before.  This may be easy to get (pick up the phone, go online, take the potted plant to the register).  However, it may be unobtainable, or be in short supply, and you can’t get it. 

The best thing we can do is, if its unobtainable, is to focus more on that which we can receive and be content with it.  We also have to ensure what we desire is not of a sinful nature, but fulfills perhaps a need of some sort.  This doesn’t mean some things that are nice-to-have items aren’t good.  For example, we did not necessarily need motion-sensor solar lights around our house that turn on at night when one walks past it, but they were affordable and we put them in locations around the house.  At night, in the event we have to take a walk around the house we have light where it used to be pitch black.   We didn’t need the lights, but they are nice to have. 

What do we need?  Hebrews 13:5 mentions keeping free from the ‘love of money’; put another way it could be read as keeping free from greed, or wanting far more than you need.  What do you really need?  As stated above with the cats, we all have our ‘shiny red bug’ that we perhaps have us go ‘I really want that’.   Now that want is not necessarily bad or sinful, if it does not take us away from Jesus or from doing good.  Also, the same item may be good for one but bad for another. 

A person may need extra land to build his shop so he can work, but another person may want extra land to extend their already large land ownings; they don’t need the land but they want the land to become a bigger landowner.  Needing a car for transportation is good, and certainly if a style or make of a car can be afforded that’s not sinful; if someone either goes too deep in debt or sacrifices to the detriment of their family for a particular car, when a far cheaper car that would fit the need be obtained, that would fall under ‘greed’.

There are things that we may not necessarily need but we want to make life more convenient.  For example, we did not ‘need’ to replace the windows in our house.  There was nothing wrong with the windows we had, but they were not hurricane-rated windows, but I have coverings for each window.   However, after determining it would be a good thing overall to replace the single-pane windows, for the safety factor as well as insulating and noise factors, we invested in the hurricane-rated windows. 

It’s an improvement and has helped us save electricity (thanks to their insulation qualities) and given us peace of mind.  There is no intent of greed, only to improve our situation and reduce worry.  If you have the means to do so, and you are not sacrificing the good of your family or your relationship with the Lord, and it’s not a sinful desire, it’s OK to get that want. 

The biggest need we have, of course, is Jesus.  We all need Jesus, and our want is that others realize their need for Him.   Jesus’ design for us is for us to be content and secure in the knowledge that He is with us always, and that He wants us with Him, forever!  Let him be that ‘glowing red bug’ that we pursue; the good news is He wants us to catch Him.