Friday, April 16, 2010

Cul-de-sac of Stupidity

This past Easter, Matt Chandler gave a sermon entitled From Alienation to Reconciliation. He was talking through Colossians 1:21-22. Near the beginning he talked about what alienation is and used the phrase "cul-de-sac of stupidity." Here's what he means:
"The Bible is going to teach us that everything that is created was not created so that our enjoyment of creation would terminate on creation, but rather that everything that exists, exists to point beyond itself to something greater than itself, namely its Creator.

The Bible teaches that you and I prefer creation to the Creator, therefore we get stuck in what I call the cul-de-sac of stupidity most of our lives, chasing things that do not satisfy us, have never satisfied us, and don't really have any hope of satisfying us, but we continue to pursue them anyway. So, although we've had gadgets, relationships, we've had all these things that the world says, "this is what satisfies you," we've had those things, we've tasted at least the first fruits of those things and they didn't satisfy us.

And Here's the lie. Here's the demonic, wicked, evil lie that most buy in to: that more of what we already possess that does not satisfy us is somehow going to bring us joy and happiness. Are you tracking with that? That's the cul-de-sac of stupidity. I have this. It doesn't work. More of what doesn't work might work. This is where a bulk of humanity is stuck--just driving around it over and over and over again...

...This is what alienation means. We are alienated from God. We just want His stuff. And we think that he's stuff will somehow fulfill us, when the Scriptures clearly say that His stuff was given to you so that you might worship Him."

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