Admiring versus Owning

In the late 1990s, Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian came to our church and spoke on the power of community. Many of you may not know "Dr. B." but he was the college professor that the Lord used to inspire Bill Hybels to start Willow Creek Community Church. God used Dr. B to inspire a movement that changed the world. 

Dr. B taught at Wheaton College and while teaching there, he used to walk from his house to work. One day while he was on his way to Wheaton, he noticed a neighbor had put a sign out in front of his door. It's a beautiful, very artistic, very creative sign that had the street name and address and so marked on it. And Dr. B loves beauty. He is from France, and he is a keen lover of beauty. And he said just walking past that sign gave him great pleasure. He just found himself thinking about it.

And the next day when he left his house, he thought to himself, I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing that sign. And there was this sign out in front. Dr. B had that same surge of admiration. "This is beautiful work of art!" This happened every day. He just would find himself looking forward to seeing that little sign, until one day the strangest thing happened. He was walking past that house, saw that little piece of art, only this time his mind didn't say, Boy, that's cool! This time, his mind said, Why should your neighbor have one of those and not you? Think of how much joy it would give you to possess something of such beauty and have the whole neighborhood see it and know it belongs to you. You ought to have that. You must have that.

And it was the strangest thing, now walking past his neighbor's house did not bring him joy anymore. Now it just troubled him. Now every time he saw that sign it was a reminder of what he did not have, and he knew it would be expensive. He was working as a teacher, did not make very much money. He and his wife were putting their children through school. He knew his wife would not want to go for spending that much money on a sign.

And then eventually one day he was walking past the sign again, and a little voice whispered to him, "Dr. B…" because even God calls him "Dr. B." "Dr. B, couldn't you enjoy that sign without owning it? Couldn't you be happy for the guy who has it? Couldn't you be happy that people get to see it? Couldn't you admire it yourself without torturing yourself over how to possess it? You can admire without having to acquire." And that is what he did. He just agreed with that thought, and he would walk past the sign, and say to himself, I'll just admire without the need to acquire.

This is a lesson that I need to learn. Lord, help me to appreciate the beauty of things without having to possess them.  Hmmm. This lesson would keep most of us out of debt, wouldn't it? So, this week make it a point to appreciate the beauty of that LED Wide Screen Television without having to go buy one. Ooops...now I am meddling.