Satisfaction of our hearts is not the purpose of the physical creation; it actually has a much higher purpose. Creation was made to point us to the one who alone has the power to satisfy our longing hearts. He is the bread that will satisfy our hunger. He is the living water that makes us thirst no longer. With every vista, on every day, with every new experience and each new look, creation has been designed to point us to God.

What has you in its hold? Don’t rush to answer. Stop and give this question some consideration.

What do you feel you can’t live without?
What has the ability to make or break your day?
What has the power to make you very sad?
What can produce almost instant happiness?
The loss of what would leave you a bit depressed?
What do you tend to attach your identity to?
What tends to control your wishes?
What do others have that causes you to envy?
If you could get just one thing, what would it be?
The absence of what tempts you to question God’s goodness?
What does your use of money tell you about what’s important to you?
What fills your fantasies and your dreams?
What would the videos of your last six weeks reveal about what has you in its hold?
What physical idols tempt you most?
What relational idols attract you the most?
Is there a place where you’re asking the creation to do what only the Creator can?

Lent is an important tool in the inescapable battle that rages in all our hearts between worship and service of the Creator and worship and service of the creation. Lent calls us to remember once again that sin reduces us all to idolaters somehow, someway. It gives us a season to take time and reflect on things that have taken too strong a hold on us, things that we have come to crave too strongly and love too dearly. It reminds us that often things that we are holding tightly have actually taken an even tighter hold on us.

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