I’m not entirely satisfied with how my “favorite” jeans fit. They seem to have potential to be the perfect jeans, I just don’t fit in them quite right. A little too long, a little too tight in a few places, and, unfortunately, there’s a little bit of a bulge overtop the waist. Ah, the lovely “muffin top”… The name is just as awful as the appearance. They say these jeans are in style, so if I want to look good I need to wear jeans like this. I can hide the fact that they don’t fit quite right- I can wear tall boots to hide the fact that they’re too long. I can do all sorts of sumo-esque moves to stretch out a little extra room in the right places, and if I wear the right shirt, I can even hide the muffin top. The problem is, even though I may look alright from the outside, I am actually still terribly uncomfortable. I can attempt to conform to the jeans, to change myself in order to achieve a better fit. I can put much energy into altering myself for the jeans and I begin to see changes. Eureka! They finally seem to be fitting right! It is in that victorious moment that I notice that no one else around me is wearing jeans like these anymore. There’s a new style with a completely different fit that I must now try to conform myself to. Resume the continuous cycle of discomfort, fault-disguising, and fleeting satisfaction…
I was considering this dilemma earlier today and made the connection between jeans and “things” of this world. The same “they” who tell you what jeans to wear also tell you about everything you need to be happy in life. A new car? Sure! You can even put $0 down. A much bigger and newer house would certainly make your life better as well. A different job? Ah, that’s what the problem is! You can attempt to change everything about yourself in order to fit the formula for happiness. It is extremely easy to fall into this pattern considering the influence of today’s society. Unfortunately, no sooner than we trade everything in for what is newer and better, we realize this stuff doesn’t cut it either and it’s time to change again. There’s a simple reason for this- you weren’t made for this world. Nothing of this world can satisfy. 1 Peter 2:11 says we are “aliens and strangers” in the world. A story I read about a little fish out of water helped drive this point home to me. Imagine we took the little fish out of the water and put him on the beach. Would he be happy? Not hardly. He would be struggling and flopping about- very uncomfortably. Suppose we gave him a pile of money, a cute little fishy house, and some extra fancy fishy food- would he be happy then? Nope. Nothing we give him would make him truly happy on that beach. This is because he wasn’t created to live on the beach. Sand is not his home. It is not the environment his little fishy self was designed to thrive in. Whether he currently realizes it or not, his true longing is for water. Anything besides water will leave him struggling and searching for satisfaction. We feel like that fishy on the beach when we try to pursue happiness in the things of this world instead of the authentic joy Jesus gives us. God created us to live in relationship with Him and he made a way for this to be possible once again through Jesus.
So when you are doing your sumo moves and picking out an extra long shirt to go with your jeans, be reminded that you were not created for things of this world and no matter how hard you try to change yourself or your circumstances, you will never be truly satisfied without Jesus. I’m trying to keep an eternal perspective and remember that this earthly life is fleeting and we were created to spend eternity with God and have Him fill the void that only He can fill.
Oh, and please don’t examine my jeans next time you see me.
Not a single pair of them fit right.
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