A temptation that is common to man is that of grasping one thing only to forsake all others. He is a bookish boy who has never held a gun or he is a world renown bowman who has never turned a page of Shakespeare. She is a track star or a baker but never both. If idolatry does anything, it causes the world around it to grow dim. Nothing else matters, only the graven image. But when a man considers everything loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, he finds that everything else is illuminated, everything else is seen more clearly and in its proper place, where it is appreciated for what it is and not for what it isn’t.

And so the wise man says in Ecclesiastes, “It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand” (Ecclesiastes 7:18). If you fear God, you can lay hold of earth while not letting go of heaven. You can hold the spirit and the body both. You can own your sin to find out that you also own His mercy.