At the praise and worship time I just went to I could tell that God was really doing a number on my heart. I have realized that lately I have been so satisfied with mediocrity in my Christian walk. I sort of study the bible when I want; praying here and there. I have no set time where I set everything aside to concentrate on His word and really focus on praying. I mainly tell myself that this is ok behavior for me because I'm busy and I'm involved with so many good things that surely this is enough for God. But where am I really seeking my pleasure? If someone could observe me all day every day, what would they say I value most? Would it be God? I think the honest answer would be no. Tonight I really saw that through the scriptures we read and the songs we sang. I really want to make a change in this area. I think my personality is so "ho hum everything's fine" that I don't take the time to really evaluate what I'm doing and is this really what God wants. My soul is not made to be satisfied with wordly things. It was created by God and can only experience true delight in Him. I think sometimes business is something that the devil can use to distract us from really taking the time to be with God. All of my activities can become an idol which replaces true worship of God.
This is a quote that I think helps explain this futher. Beware, it can be shocking. It still is to me even though I've read it a bunch of times. But I think it is good to be shocked sometimes because it forces us to think outside of our comfort boxes. Also, I do believe that God did create us to be able to enjoy life and have fun, but at the same time those things are different then true delight and satisfaction, which can be found only by seeking God.
"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." ~C.S. Lewis
4 comments:
Jessica,
I really felt struck by last Friday's P&W too. And i think that Lewis quote is excellent - partly because of its shock, but also i think because of the vivid picture of being content in a mud pit when you could go to the Beach! And if we are content with that, then we're not going to ask God for more - for what he wants to give us. That reminds me of that little book that everyone was talking about a couple of years agp: "the prayer of jabez". I see some of the valid concerns that some had with it, but when I read it i was convicted that I don't ask God to bless me - I assume that I can do a good enough job myself, or that he doesn't love me enough to give me good things. But certainly 'good things' according to God are different from what the world sees as good things.
Did you have any opinion on that book?
-Kate
Jessica and Kate,
I'm concerned that your approach, as mentioned, to finding pleasure in God assumes a clearly defined pattern of daily living. I think these are big picture ideas for orienting your life, not daily considerations for practical living. If we go around every day asking 'am I finding pleasure in God, today' we place ourselves into dubious reductionism similar to asking 'what is God's will for my life today'. Both questions can lead us to patterns of thought that are tantamount to legalism/performance based acceptance that omit grace.
Here's an example of the reductionism that I see. Jeremy said that singles don't discuss spiritual issues, because we don't take pleasure in God enough. That is to say, we don't find pleasure in discussing God, scripture, etc. Personally, I agree with him, but to a point. His presentation suggests that that is the ONLY reason we don't have more spiritual dialogue. I think there are other reasons. People are shy. Folks are having a bad day. Maybe there are emotional fears, insecurities that prevent such intimate exchange. I don't see not finding pleasure in God as a unilateral cause for us not having more spiritual dialogue. To me, that seems reductionistic. I think it's more than that.
As for "the prayer of jabez", it reminds me of the tendency in contemporary Christian teaching to subtlely emphasize materialism or a believe and receive approach to our faith, when there is so much more to it.
Jess, your blog rocks. Thanks for offering this forum to us for sharing and growing.
George
What great thoughts and insights! George, I agree that we need to be very careful to avoid legalism. But I don't think that means we shouldn't daily seek to find pleasure in God. Jesus tells us in Luke 9:23, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." There is a daily discipline needed. We forget too easily. We need to hear the truth of our sin and the Gospel of His grace every day. That's how it becomes real to us and not just a philosophy we agree with. We shouldn't see this as an obligation or a formula, but as a gift. I think Jessica's comment about looking at our daily lives to see what we value most is not one of needing to live more legalistically; it is about being more in love with God and keeping our gaze on Him. Our love for God should be all consuming, and it should be reflected in our daily lives. It is not that we try to earn God's favor and love through our daily actions, but that our daily actions result from awareness of His favor and love for us and a true delight in Him.
And there is something to the believe and receive approach - it's just about how you look at it (Mt. 7:7-11). It can't be materialistic, but God tells us in Psalm 37, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." This is not Him giving us what we think we want, but it is Him changing our desires to His, and Him being the fulfillment of all our desires. If we can only delight in Him, our desires will be fulfilled in Him. We are also told in James 1, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting..." God will never deny us spiritual blessing when we ask Him for it. And spiritual blessing is true blessing. Often we want to be blessed with material things that really may not be blessings in the end. I haven't read the Prayer of Jabez, but from what I have heard, my impression is that is more of what is being communicated.
So those are just some of my thoughts! By the way, Jess, your blog is wicked awesome!
-Laura
Folks, great thoughts. Kate, I haven't read the prayer of jabez, unfortunately, so I cannot comment. However, if the Lord used it to speak to you, that's awesome.
I think it is important to try to each day seek the Lord's will and to see which areas of my life are lacking in truely being glorifying to Him. George you have a point though in saying that we do have to be careful in our approach. In the pursuit of holiness we can fall into legalism. However, in my personal walk with God, I know I lack some serious discipline. By God grace, I can say that in general it's pretty rare for me to be legalistic about anything, except in being a Vikings fan. So..when I wrote what I did in that blog, I'm coming from the approach of "man, how it is that I can go a whole day without getting daily bread in the word" for example. I am not saying "everyone should read the bible every day for sure or else". But for me, I can definitely see the benefits of trying to do so because I very easily forget truth and then five seconds later I'm sinning in my mind over something, when if I had just read the bible that day then maybe the HS would have brought that to mind instead. That's my angle. Peace out.
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