How Blessings Become Blindness

What does it actually take to forget God? 

Less than you think. In this episode of You Finishing Well, Tim Owen unpacks one of the quietest and most dangerous spiritual traps we face — not atheism, not rebellion, but simple, comfortable forgetfulness. 

Drawing from Moses’ final warning to Israel in Deuteronomy and a raw, unforgettable moment in Luke 7, Tim explores why blessing so easily becomes blindness, why the good life is often more spiritually dangerous than the hard one, and why the woman weeping at Jesus’ feet understood something the religious man at the same table completely missed. 

If you’ve ever assumed tomorrow was guaranteed, taken an ordinary day for granted, or wondered why your love for God feels small — this one is for you.

Check out our YouTube Channel “You Finishing Well” and our website: www.youfinishingwell.com 

All you have to do is go to our website and sign up for updates - all free. 

Stay strong, pure, and like Christ - Thanks for taking the journey with me! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey everybody, this is Tim Owen with You Finishing Well. Welcome to my podcast and welcome back. I want to talk about how good things in your life really cause us to sort of be assumptive, or I could say it another way, how do blessings really turn into blindness? Let's talk about that. You know, I hope you'll stay with me today on this podcast, but I want to start with a question. I think it's so profound, yet simple, yet profound. When was the last time everything was going well for you, and your first instinct was to drop to your knees and thank God? I mean, I know that's a big religious question, but we typically go to God right when the crisis hits, when the diagnosis comes, when the relationship falls apart. But when everything is fine? I mean, this morning, hot shower, right? Food's in the fridge, the car started, the kids are healthy, nobody called with bad news today. It's just a good day, right? But here's the question. Did you stop and or did you pause even for 30 seconds and say, God thank you? You know, I'll be honest, I'm I'm the same way. I don't really do it. I mean, I take a lot for granted. I actually say when I pray, Lord, I take a lot for granted, and I really am thankful. Because I do know as I say that you really are thankful. But here's what gets me it's the forgetfulness. It's a slow drift from gratitude to assuming that it's all going to be good tomorrow. And I think God and the Bible has a lot to say about this. So let's I want to talk about that today. So I want to kind of sit, I'm reading Deuteronomy, which is kind of a second law given to the second generation. Uh they're about to go into the promised land, and Moses is giving them direction, but he's talking to people as he's speaking in Deuteronomy that God has rescued. These are people that he has fed, and these are people that have seen miracles that you and I have not seen, but they saw them with their own eyes. And then Moses looks at them and speaks to them and says, Don't forget. So I think it's a legitimate question. How are you and I doing in this in this area in our life? You know, Moses is giving his final address, and he's basically saying, walk with God, and then just see for yourself what happens. In Deuteronomy 7, 13, he says, He will love you and bless you and make your numbers grow. The Lord will take away all the disease from you. So this isn't some kind of prosperity gospel. It's a covenant-keeping element that God, it's universal, that he is saying, I am for you. I want to bless you. But then Moses kind of flips it, and then he kind of chases other things, and then he says, and kind of contrasts it, but those who hate him or forget him, he will repay to their face with destruction. That's Deuteronomy 17. So he's not being dramatic here. He's kind of being fatherlike. He said, I have actually watched God work, and I know what happens both ways. Because trust me, Moses knew the blessing, and he also kind of knew the discipline of God. And then he kind of puts a capstone on it in Deuteronomy 8, where he says, Be careful not to forget the Lord your God, so that, listen, you fail to obey his commands, his laws and rules that I'm giving you today. He's saying, be careful. And he's not saying try your best. He's not saying hopefully you'll remember, or just he's saying be careful. Because if forgetting God becomes a trap, it will show up in curses, it will show up in things not going well. It's kind of like a slow leak or a quiet drift. It just is. You know, I think you probably already know this, but the good life is actually more spiritually dangerous than the hard life. I mean, if you really stop and think about it, when things get hard, you, even if you're not a praying person, you probably pray. When we're desperate, that's the time we seek God. That's there's a rawness and kind of a dependency that draws us close to Him when things are bad, right? But when things are good, the new house, the great career, everything's comfortable, we're secure. We just have a tendency to drift. And it's not dramatic, it's not all at once. It's kind of one degree at a time, kind of like a ship that looks fine until you realize it's nowhere near where it started. And then for some reason, we just stop going to God with gratitude. We start going to Him kind of with a wish list like He's a genie. And we quietly sort of renegotiate the commands that once felt like life. In Luke 10, 27, uh he writes, Love the Lord. This is all this is not new, this is the main thing of main purpose of life. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. And love your neighbor as you love yourself. You know, everything in life, it really does hang on those two. But in the comfortable seasons, I think we start loving God with part of our heart. We love our neighbor, frankly, when it's convenient. We're too busy to meet with people. And and we really don't do anything for other people when things are going well that really cost us anything. Now, maybe you're different, maybe you're doing it all right, but these are things that I journal, I think about when I read, especially in Deuteronomy, it seems so relevant today. And as I say, well, if this is me, and I and I'm telling you, I'm working hard at this, I read my Bible, I journal, I do this podcast, I'm trying to do it right. I mean, it's not just some, I mean, it's a it's a few hours a day, to be honest with you. And if I struggle with this, I think to myself, are you struggling with it? In Deuteronomy 8, 17 and 18, he writes, You might say to yourself, I became wealthy because of my own power and ability. But remember the Lord your God, because he is the one who gives you the ability to become wealthy. I just think we miss that a little bit. It causes me to slow down when I hear that kind of speech. You know, if you stop and think about it, it's kind of like oxygen. You breathe it every second of your life, and because it's always there, you just never really think about the air that you breathe. You kind of assume it's going to be there. And I really do believe that's what we do with God's blessing, our health, the people that love us, the food, the safety, the provision, because they're all constantly there. We just sort of stop noticing. We stop being grateful, we start assuming. And I think that that assumption is the enemy of gratitude. Think about that. When you think it's just gonna happen good, it be actually becomes the enemy of true gratitude. And in gratitude, I think, is where that drift begins. So I want to kind of push on that word assume for just a moment, because I think that that's the dangerous zone we could live in. We we just shouldn't assume God's blessing. We shouldn't assume that tomorrow's just going to be okay. If you've lived life long enough, and especially as a business owner, I remember when Wendy would get upset, and I'm like, baby, did you really think that everybody was gonna wake up, all the employees, all of our clients, all the people that service, the vendors and so forth, and they were all just gonna do the right thing? Did you really I mean, we should wake up in the morning almost expecting, because we live in an imperfect world and this is kind of Satan's playground. We should ex wake up expecting something. And when it doesn't happen, man, that should really affect our attitude. I have walked alongside so many people facing cancer. I've sat with men and women who went to bed on an ordinary night, healthy, making plans, but they woke up to a phone call or a scan result or a word from a doctor that frankly split their life in two before and after. It's just true. I've watched strong people get catastrophic news that they never saw coming. And I've had to reckon this with my own mortality. I've had cancer two times, and it could come back. I'm they with leukemia, they don't tell you it's it's it's uh uh cured. They always say it's in remission because the truth of the matter is it could come back. And what can I tell you from a place like this that I have lived in? Here's the words. Tomorrow, listen, tomorrow is not guaranteed. Not for any of us. I mean, the apostle James said it very plainly in James 4.14. He said, You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You're a mist that appears for a little while and then you vanishes. I mean, it's here and then it's gone. And that's not, I don't really think he writes that to frighten us. I think it's he writes it to wake us up. Because the people I have sat with who have faced, frankly, the unthinkable, the ones who have had the most peace, they weren't the ones who had the most. They were the ones that were most grateful, the ones who had not saved their worship just for the hard times. Do you do that? Do you save and connect with God just during the bad times? So I say don't wait for the crisis to remember. Don't wait for the diagnosis to thank God for health. And don't wait till someone is gone to tell them that you love them and what you mean to them. You know, on a regular basis, I kind of keep a list of people on my chat and on my uh just various places. I have a list of people that I pray for and think about. And when they come to mind, I just stop what I'm doing and text them or even call them. Now they may not call me back, but I want them to know you're on my mind. I was thinking about you today, and hey man, I just wanted to tell you that I love you. You know, when we wake up and the water's hot, that's a gift. When we wake up and you've had someone that you love sleep beside you, that's a gift. And the breath that you just took just now, to be able to see and hear my voice, that's a gift. And none of it is promised, all of it is grace. But I want to take this a little bit deeper, and I want to talk about a lady that you may or may not have heard of before, because Moses is identifying the symptom. But I think Jesus in the New Testament kind of gets to the root of it, and it's in Luke 7. So Jesus is at dinner with a Pharisee. He's a religious man, he's a good man, a man who had his life together. I mean, if you looked at him from up down sideways, everything looks well. And then this woman walks in. First of all, I thought it was interesting she felt comfortable walking into the Pharisee's house without knocking on the door. That's interesting. Anyway, the Bible doesn't describe why and the inside of that, but the text says that she was a sinner. And everybody in the room, the text says, knew it. She knelt at Jesus' feet and she began to cry. And she cried so hard that her tears literally washed Jesus' feet. Now that was not a scandalous thing back in those days, and then she wiped his feet with her hair, and she kissed his feet, which was the most humble servant-like thing. I know that sounds weird in our culture, but it was not then. And then she poured perfume on them. So the Pharisees looking at all of this, and Jesus knew what he was thinking. He knew who this woman was, and he'd never let her touch him. And or at least that's what the Pharisee was thinking. And Jesus, knowing exactly what he was thinking, he said this in Luke 7 A person who is forgiven little shows only a little love. I want that to sink in a bit. A person who has been forgiven for just a little bit, or thinks they have, because they're so good, they show only a little love. But a person who is forgiven much shows much love. So how are you doing with that? Let that sit for a minute. That woman wasn't weeping out of obligation, she wasn't performing, she was overwhelmed, and she knew who she had been, who she was, and she knew somehow in the presence of Jesus that she was completely forgiven, fully, completely, and honestly, that awareness broke her open. And then she cried. So the Pharisee, Jesus said, She came in and offered water, but you didn't. There was no greeting, there was no oil. He'd invited Jesus to dinner like you'd invite a curiosity. I think that could have been the reason. Don't the Bible's not clear about that. But he didn't really think the Pharisee didn't, he needed very much because he was a good man. He kept the rules, things were going well for him, and his love for Jesus, frankly, reflected exactly that. So here's kind of the core truth, and I want you to really hear this. Your awareness of sin and God's grace really determines your level of love and grace and forgiveness for other people. I mean, it if you really stop and give that a true pause, if you walk around thinking, I'm pretty good, I don't need much forgiveness, I've lived a decent life, your love for God honestly is going to be small. It's going to be polite and manageable and controlled. But if you know, and I mean really know, I was lost, I was broken, I needed saving. Yet he saved me anyway. Your love will overflow. It can't help but overflow. The woman at Jesus' feet wasn't trying to be emotional, she just knew the truth about herself. And that truth, honestly, it wrecked her in the best possible way. You know, on any given day, if you really stop and pause, that we were where we were destined, where we were going, that we were dead, we were hell bound. I know that sounds so churchy, but it's true, and that Jesus came and saved our soul, our soul for eternity. It really should make us thankful. I mean, we should thank God for the hot water and the car and the money and the career, but to really think about how saved you really are, oh my gosh. So here's kind of where it all comes together. Moses says, be careful not to forget God when the blessings come. But Jesus says, the one who forgets is the one who thinks they really don't need God much. And both of them are describing the same person, someone who's comfortable, someone who's doing well, someone who's quietly convinced that they have earned what they have, and they don't owe that much to anybody, including God. So all I'm saying today is don't be that person. Because the life God is calling us to, where we actually love people more than our own comfort. I mean, are you really stopping and spending time with people right now? Or are you worshiping the schedule? It's where we serve and it consumes us. What's consuming you? And you know, in Philippians he wrote, do nothing out of selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility, consider others as more important, more important than yourselves. And that life is only possible, I think, when we remember what we've been forgiven of. And when we remember that none of this, not one day of it, was ever guaranteed. You know, gratitude for me, and I'm sure for you too, it really does flow from grace. And humility, it really flows from just being honest. When you confess your sins and tell people of your weaknesses, you become humble in a way. You're just, you don't, you don't care that you look like you don't have it all together. But we work so hard to look like we got it together. The things we post and the pictures we take and the images that we project. I I gave that up a long time ago, and there's great freedom and there's great peace in that. And love, and I mean real love, flows from knowing exactly how much you and I need saving. So the question today, I think, is pretty simple, but it's probably one of the most important questions you'll face this week. What will you choose? Who do you want to become? What are you really thankful for? Are you like the Pharisee? Are you comfortable, grateful enough, loving God at a safe distance? Or will you be the woman at Jesus' feet? Undone, I mean really undone by grace, loving God at a safe distance, or really leaning into him closely, walking with him, learning to love God, not just what he does for you, but really desiring him, desiring Jesus Christ, really desiring the Holy Spirit to listen to and to lead you and to ask him to help you. I mean, what at the end of the day will you remember? So I hope this means something to you. If so, uh I hope you'll pass it on. I want to just close with a prayer. So before you turn this off, let's pray. Let's ask God and tell him what we think about this. You know, God, I just have to be honest. I think about the woman at your feet and the way she wept, the way she held nothing back, and I wonder, when was the last time I loved you like that? Because if I'm honest, I honestly can say I've spent more time being the Pharisee than I actually want to publicly admit. I have been comfortable. I mean, I have been convinced that I'm doing pretty well and that I'm a pretty good guy. I have loved you at arm's length. I've gone through the motions without really letting the weight of your grace land and lay on me. But the truth is, Lord, you know and I know, I was lost. I mean, I know that. Whatever face I put on for the world, I knew I was doing it without you. So I just asked that you would kind of wreck me. I would I would pray, this is a scary prayer for a lot of people, that you surface. My sin, maybe not publicly the first time, but just let me know. But draw me into you. I want to be the best possible lover of you and the best possible lover of Jesus. So forgive me for forgetting. Because I do forget. I do take things for granted. Forgive me for the hot for not thanking you for the hot water or the food or the health. Now, health, honestly, because I've had leukemia, you know I thank you a lot for that. I thank you so much. I'm not cancer, I'm cancer free for today. But forgive me for treating your blessings kind of like they're my birthright. And I know none of this is really promised. I do. Tomorrow isn't guaranteed. I've sat with people who have found out the hard way that life is ending. And I don't want to wait till everything's just stripped away when I finally come to you. So I ask you now, break my comfort. I ask you to rebuild my gratitude and remind me that today really is a gift. It's not a guarantee. And I pray that you would give me the courage to love people, especially love people that are not lovely, but help me love like that woman loved you with everything, holding nothing back and not caring what anybody in the room thinks. I mean, it's you know it's why I do this podcast, but I have to admit, sometimes I hope people will listen, and I don't want to be popular, but I want to really have passion. I want this to be a mission. So I pray today that you will give me right motives and that I always choose you for the right reasons. And I just pray these things because he brings my prayers to you, Jesus does. I pray it all in Jesus' name. All right, my good people, thank you for being here with Finishing Well. If I have stirred anything in you, share it with someone. And by the way, if you have not purchased my new book, it's on Amazon. What no one told you about marriage, it is great for the singles, it's great for newlyweds, it's great for the marriages that have become kind of boring, and it's really good for those that are in deep, deep, deep trouble. What nobody told you about marriage, check it out. It's on Amazon. Listen, that thing, I'm I didn't write it at$10 for making money because Amazon takes most of your money, and so does Kindle Publishing, but it truly is a mission, it's not a moneymaker for me. So if you haven't bought it, check it out, and then go to Amazon and give me a rating, good or bad, I want the truth, and let me know what you think. Have a beautiful day, and thanks for taking time with me.