first and second things

nothing on earth is an end in itself. 

there is no beauty or love or treasure or security or glory on earth you will find that stands on its own. all of it is derived, contingent for its value on the supreme Value of something that completely transcends this world. as soon as you become enraptured by the beauty of something in and of itself and forget that its very beauty lies in the fact that it is an echo of the only Beauty that can stand on its own, you lose the beauty altogether. 

think of this statement: "one converses better when one does not say, 'let us converse.'" it may seem like a strange concept at first, but it makes sense. as soon as you focus all your attention on the mere act of conversing, you destroy it, because the nature of conversation is to be a medium by which you commune with another human being. conversation, by its nature, exists for something else. if you lose sight of that, you lose conversation as well. the same is true of everything in life. communication, art, science, marriage, family, friends, sunsets, sports, good meals, holidays...none of it is meant to stand on its own.

i think we know this instinctively ("He has put eternity into man's heart"), but it's so easy to forget, or even intentionally ignore. c.s. lewis has taught me a lot about understanding "first things" and "second things."

"the woman who makes a dog the center of her life loses, in the end, not only her human usefulness and dignity but even the proper pleasure of dog-keeping. the man who makes alcohol his chief good loses not only his job but his palate and all power of enjoying the earlier (and only pleasurable) levels of intoxication. it is a glorious thing to feel for a moment or two that the whole meaning of the universe is summed up in one woman - glorious so long as other duties and pleasures keep tearing you away from her. but clear the decks and so arrange your life (it is sometimes feasible) that you will have nothing to do but contemplate her, and what happens?"

this is how the world is wired, because it has been created. nothing we find here was ever meant to exist for itself. "every preference of a small good to a great, or a partial good to a total good, involves the loss of the small or partial good for which the sacrifice was made" (lewis).

as with many worthwhile lessons in this world, this one is illustrated very well in j.r.r. tolkien's middle-earth, and this 3 and a half minute video will show you how:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/interviews/how-the-harrowing-journey-profits-the-hobbit

you can't get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only by putting first things first.

and in the end, we know that the only One with glory enough to sustain the weight of being a "first thing" is Christ.

"nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. but look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in" (lewis).

"He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (colossians 1:17).

"belatedly i loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new; belatedly i loved Thee. for see, Thou wast within and i was without, and i sought Thee out there. unlovely, i rushed heedlessly among the lovely things Thou hast made. Thou wast with me, but i was not with Thee. these things kept me far from Thee; even though they were not at all unless they were in Thee. Thou didst call and cry aloud, and didst force open my deafness. Thou didst gleam and shine, and didst chase away my blindness. Thou didst breathe fragrant odors and i drew in my breath; and now i pant for Thee. i tasted, and now i hunger and thirst. Thou didst touch me, and i burned for Thy peace" (augustine).