The Luring Effect of a Cracker

The other day we were riding in the van as a family going to see our new niece (Jubilee Hope Andrews). We told our girls that we had some crackers they could eat after we were finished at their cousins' house. When we were finished, we loaded up into the van and noticed that it was nearly dinner time. In a quiet conversation, Faith and I decided that we would take the girls to McDonald's for dinner since we were so close. Just then, the girls began begging for the crackers we told them they could have. We told them that we had something even better for them if they would just wait. They continued to beg for the crackers and it finally ended with me telling the girls not to ask for the crackers anymore. They were upset. They felt entitled to their crackers and they wanted them now instead of waiting for Daddy's surprise which was supposed to be far better. As we pulled into MickeyD's our girl's faces brightened up and they suddenly forgot about the crackers. As we pulled into the parking lot and noticed the girls' expressions changing, I commented to Faith; "What an analogy!"
During this episode, I was thinking of a comment made by C. S. Lewis from The Weight of Glory ". . .if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desire, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. "
God wants us completely satisfied in HIM, but how often we demand immediate satisfaction from far lesser things which only end up disappointing! In Jeremiah 2 (vv.12-14) God complains "Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters,and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." You see my girls were sinning two-fold. They were demading lesser goods while rejecting the far better thing I was promising them.
Brothers and Sisters, we do this with every sin we commit against God. Sin is essentially believing the deceitful promises of sin over God's promises. When we sin, we reject God and His "living water" and we instead stuff our faces with cotton candy which tastes sweet for a short season but then is gone, leaving a still empty stomach. God alone satisfies the human heart with joy unspeakable and full of glory!
What God promises is always worth the wait and the forsaking all lesser promises from deceitful sources!
We need to see crackers for what they really are and trust God to give us the full meal!