Pillaging God …

It was (as usual) a beautiful day on Waikiki Beach. I was strolling through the area, scanning for just the right place to kick back on the sand, when I noticed the angry surfer walking almost directly toward me.

“Can you believe that?!” he said, shaking both his head and the single flip flop shoe he was clutching in his left hand.

“Believe what?” I responded.

He stopped and, still shaking the flip flop for emphasis, said, “All I had with me was my slippahs [that’s what locals in Hawaii often call flip flops] so I buried them in the sand. Some thief came along and stole ONE of my flip flops! Why would someone take just one?” he asked, again shaking his head as he walked on in bewilderment and anger.

Unfortunately, theft along the beach is not uncommon in Hawaii. Tourists bring all sorts of things — including wallets, phones, jewelry, and other valuables — and “hide” them on the beach while they go swimming. Some locals come along and loot the tourists of their goods. Apparently, someone had searched for what the surfer may have left (probably hoping for a wallet) and, finding only a pair of flip flops, decided to take just one for spite since he didn’t have anything of real value to tote away.

A lot of people are like those beach scavengers. They’re looking for what they can take away from someone else, and when others don’t have much to offer, they may not be so kind in the parting.

Our culture teaches people to connect with others who have something to give, and to scorn those who don’t have something to contribute directly; take what you can get from others, and when that value is depleted, move along.

That’s often what is the hidden message in the warm, fuzzy platitude that says some people come into our lives just for seasons. Actually, neither friendship nor kindness have expiration dates. People falling out of our lives more often occurs because we don’t see them bringing value to us, or they don’t see us bringing value to them.

James 4:1-4 says, “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong — you want only what will give you pleasure. You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”

We pillage each other.

And above all, we pillage God.

Rarely do we approach God with the idea that He won’t have something for us. It’s not so common for us to desire time with God because of what we have to bring to Him! Instead, we’re looking for the blessing, the gift, the something to make our time “worthwhile.”

And if it’s not, we grab a shoe just to have something for our effort.

I wonder if God sometimes feels like that bewildered surfer …

Scotty