The trip is in the journey.
Another way to say it is that we’ll be disappointed in our destination if we sacrifice everything to get there. A well-known song by Mac Davis tells us to stop and smell the roses. If our lives are only marked out by the goals we’ve achieved, we’ll feel empty and alone at the end of the trip.
Moving into that new house leaves us deflated once the paint smell fades. We need a new rush, and we go for a new car. Yet, it becomes chipped, and we decide our jewelry needs an upgrade.
Some men do it with wives. The wives try to keep up with liposuction, eyelid surgery, and rhinoplasty.
Yet, the plastic thrill lasts only as long as we let it. The skin starts to sag again, and we hunger for more.
It’s the thrill of the new.
Amnon, David’s son, chased the thrill. He became so obsessed with his half-sister Tamar that he connived to entrap her for intimate relations.
He was besotted with her beauty, and all he saw was his goal. Love didn’t come into the picture; there was no friendship; and certainly, he didn’t consider the consequences of what he desired.
He took her, and 2 Samuel 13:17 tells us the immediate results of his actions.
“[Amnon] called the young man who served him and said, ‘Put this woman out of my presence and bolt the door after her.’ ”
Not only had the king’s son had his way with his sister, once he was finished, he found his goal was an empty one, and he cast the object of his desire aside.
Then, he bolted the door after her.
Tamar was a teenager, a beauty beyond all beauty, and her purity was shredded by her brother’s desire. It was left as tatters to blow in the wind, shame held aloft for all to see.
Even in our Christian walk, what do we chase so hard that we forget to enjoy our journey? Do we abandon our family time to see the new sanctuary rise above the city that stands on either side? Are we so invested in our church’s missions project that we can’t afford to vacation with our kids? Or maybe we peg so much on our retirement that we forget to live the years until we get there.
The roses line the path we walk through this life. So do the thorns, but if we’re afraid to touch the beautiful blooms that surround us for fear of catching our fingers on a thorn, we may reach our goal, only to find we’ve achieved an empty victory, leaving our life tattered in the wind.
Ask Amnon. He bolted the door after his hollow victory. He also caused a blood feud that haunted his family for generations to come.
God gifts us life to enjoy. Our reward is more than just a heavenly home at our journey’s end.
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