by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
Sometimes, we think we’re in control of our choices until we choose something that soon ends up controlling us. Sometimes, we strongly desire the wrong things, thinking they’ll fulfill us and make us more complete somehow, and never fully realize how they end up robbing us and leaving us emptier than ever.<\/p>\nThe world is full of people looking for belonging, significance, and fulfillment in all the wrong places. While the shiny, enticing baubles of this world can bring pleasure, the delight is only fleeting because they can never fill the void that can only be taken up by God. So, these pursuits for personal fulfillment only take us further away from the most fulfilling relationship there is.
\nIt’s not wrong to be successful. It’s wrong to think our significance is in those temporary things.
\nIf only we could see it.\n
“… the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful<\/em>” (Mark 4:19).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Zeke Flores Sometimes, we think we’re in control of our choices until we choose something that soon ends up controlling us. Sometimes, we strongly desire the wrong things, thinking they’ll fulfill us and make us more complete somehow, and never fully realize how they end up robbing us and leaving us emptier than ever.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[576],"class_list":["post-84187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-wealth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":96333,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-has-our-world-gone-crazy\/","url_meta":{"origin":84187,"position":0},"title":"Why Has Our World Gone Crazy?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton People don't know that there are only two genders, that marriage is only for one man and one woman, that killing a baby in the womb is still murdering a human being, that if you choose not to work, you choose not to eat and benefit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8761,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/anger\/","url_meta":{"origin":84187,"position":1},"title":"Anger","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton There are many misconceptions about anger in our world. The misunderstandings do not come from a lack of experience with anger. Far too many people have never attempted to control their rage. They have daily experience with anger. The misconceptions about anger come from taking extreme\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/Anger.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16587,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-still-having-problems-getting-along-with-my-stepmother\/","url_meta":{"origin":84187,"position":2},"title":"I’m still having problems getting along with my stepmother","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I wrote to you a while ago when my dad and my stepmother had just married because I wasn't sure what my new relationship with her should be. You gave me a kind and helpful response and I am sorry I never replied to say thank you for that.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51192,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/in-the-breaking-of-the-bread\/","url_meta":{"origin":84187,"position":3},"title":"In the Breaking of the Bread","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford In the gospel of Luke, the primary resurrection appearance of Jesus is when He reveals Himself to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. After they explain the events of the past few days to Him, not realizing that He is Jesus, He takes over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23550,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/being-right-and-wrong-at-the-same-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":84187,"position":4},"title":"Being Right and Wrong at the Same Time","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford I am quite sure that God frequently shakes His head in amazement at my foolishness. However, I hope that year by year, decade by decade, I manage to get a little bit wiser. One such hard-won nugget of wisdom has to do with being right and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ethics-300x212.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":49984,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-have-a-picture-of-buddha-in-our-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":84187,"position":5},"title":"Is it wrong to have a picture of Buddha in our home?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, My wife and I are both Christians. My wife put a picture of Buddha in our home because it matches our furniture color and it is nicely painted. I almost fought with her to remove the picture because it contradicts our faith in Christ in my opinion. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}