Desire

"Oh, when will these evils end? When shall I be freed from the miserable slavery of vice? When, Lord, shall I think of You alone? When shall I fully rejoice in You? When shall I be without hindrance, in true liberty, free from every grievance of mind and body? When will there be solid peace, undisturbed and secure, inward peace and outward peace, peace secured on every side? O good Jesus, when shall I stand to gaze upon You? When shall I contemplate the glory of Your kingdom? When will You be all in all to me? Oh, when shall I be with You in that kingdom of Yours, which You have prepared for Your beloved from all eternity?

"...Pardon me also, and deal mercifully with me, as often as I think of anything besides You in prayer. For I confess truly that I am accustomed to be very much distracted. Very often I am not where bodily I stand or sit; rather, I am where my thoughts carry me. Where my thoughts are, there am I; and frequently my thoughts are where my love is. That which naturally delights, or is by habit pleasing, comes to me quickly. Hence You, Who are Truth itself, have plainly said: 'For where your treasure is, there is your heart also.' If I love heaven, I think willingly of heavenly things. If I love the world, I rejoice at the happiness of the world and grieve at its troubles. If I love the flesh, I often imagine things that are carnal. If I love the spirit, I delight in thinking of spiritual matters. For whatever I love, I am willing to speak and hear about.

"Blessed is the man who for Your sake, O Lord, dismisses al creatures, does violence to nature, crucifies the desires of the flesh in fervor of spirit, so that with serene conscience he can offer You a pure prayer and, having excluded all earthly things inwardly and outwardly, becomes worthy to enter into the heavenly choirs."

Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, book 3, chapter 48.

Beautiful, Risky Love

Remember that movie Say Anything? Lloyd Dobler (the nobody) pursues Diane Court (the "most likely to succeed"), but she was not very interested in Lloyd. He continues to pursue her until she falls for him. At first glance, Lloyd did not seem to have much to offer. He gave Diane everything he had and everything he was and when she stopped talking to him he was heartbroken. But as he steadily pursued Diane, she fell for him.

My wife and I recently watched this movie for the first time and it immediately shot to the top of our favorites list. After all, we love a good 80's movie and this is one of the best.

Lately I've been thinking about God and His interaction with us...His "plan" for all of us (Gal. 4:4-7)...and it reminded me a little of Say Anything. Think about it...how much does God pursue you? Yes, we preachers always speak of God's "eternal plan" of salvation, which is very important. Some brave souls may even say that the salvation God offers is personal (Gal. 2:20). But what about on a daily level? Do you even see Him or hear Him? My eyes are focused on the ground but every now and then He takes my breath away.

On the way home from work:

 

Taking out the trash:

I'm not a pantheist, nor do I believe God audibly speaks to me, but I am definitely not a deist. Truly, the heavens declare the glory of God.

But why is it that I'm only struck by this occasionally? Why is it so hard to remember that God is still pursuing me? I don't think I forget...I just don't want to take the risk.

Maybe the risk in our love for God is not that God will cease loving us but that we will find the divine love unfulfilling due to our sin or dysfunctional lives or simply to a lack of understanding as to how God is loving us in our present situation.(John Sanders, The God Who Risks, p. 180).

I think everyone wants the love that God offers, but many don't want to take the risk it requires. Thus, we turn to other sources of comfort and security: food, money, cars, sex, drugs, alcohol, women. Each of these has its proper use, but it should not be in the place of God....they cannot give what God offers, but we'll do whatever we can to get them.

Like Lloyd, God has "put himself out there" for me. Will I put myself out there for Him?

That's my choice every day.