v. addiction

Ultimately, our yearning for God is the most important aspect of our humanity, our most precious treasure; it gives our existence meaning and direction. It is this desire that Paul spoke of when he tried to explain the unknown God to the Athenians: ‘It is God who gives to all people life and breath and all things… God created us to seek God, with the hope that we might grope after God through the shadows of our ignorance, and find God.’…

From a psychoanalytic perspective, one could say we displace our longing for God upon other things. Behaviorally, we are conditioned to seek objects by the positive and negative reinforcements of our own private experience and by the messages of parents, peers, and culture. Even the briefest look at television and magazine advertising reveals how strongly our culture reinforces attachment to things other than God, and what high value it gives to willful self-determination and mastery. Mediating all the stimuli they receive, the cells of our brains are continually seeking equilibrium, developing patterns of adaptation that constitute what is normal. Thus, the more we become accustomed to seeking spiritual satisfaction through things other than God, the more abnormal and stressful it becomes to look for God directly.

From a more specifically spiritual viewpoint, we naturally seek the least threatening ways of trying to satisfy our longing for God, ways that protect oour sense of personal power and require the least sacrifice. Even when we know that our hunger is for God alone, we will still be looking for loopholes- ways of having our cake and eating it too, ways of maintaining our attachments to things and people while simultaneously trying to deepen our intimacy with God. We seek compromise not because we are evil or conniving, but because of the way we are made; we naturally look for the least painful ways of living. From the standpoint of basic human common sense, this is perfectly reasonable. We look for our ultimate satisfaction in God’s palpable and definable creations instead of looking through them to the hidden, loving face of their Creator.

Full love for God means we must turn to God over and against other things. If our choice of God is to be made with integrity, we must first have felt other attractions and chosen, painfully, not to made them our gods. A mature and meaningful love, then, must say something like, ‘I have experienced other goodnesses, and they are beautiful, but it is You, my heart’s true desire, whom I choose above all.'”

– Gerald G. May, Addiction and Grace

iv. adoration

Sometimes i feel as though i am too far gone. Innocence was too long ago. i am too proud. i have wasted too many chances to behold Him. i will always be selfish. i will never be disciplined. i will never find Him. i will never regain the adoration i was born to feel.

i am not beyond redemption.

iii. now that the world is no longer good enough

This awkward in-between. Because a lack of worldly fulfilment does not force God into a place of prominence. Loving God is not about denying the world. It’s about God being above all else, which is neither meant to be accomplished, nor can it be accomplished, by making everything else less significant. It is about making God more.

I’ve heard it described that to glorify God is not to view Him through a microscope but rather through a telescope. For microscopes attempt to make small things appear bigger than they are. But telescopes seek to see really big things more like the way they actually are. God is not a cell that we must blow up in order to show as worthy. He is a far-away galaxy that we must bring closer.

Succeeding in making the world less is only succeeding in making the world less. The Bible doesn’t teach that we should show such a weak love toward other things that our weak love toward God will be first in our hearts. It teaches that we must love God so much that whatever love we have toward other things is merely a facet of our great love for Him. Defeating the world is one thing. Placing God on His throne is another.

ii. When the world is no longer good enough

I’ve been trying lately to become that person Christ talks about in Matthew 22:37. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” In other words, a Christian.

As I’ve sought to devote myself to godly things, I’ve felt a shift in my heart. Watching TV, following sports, they just leave me more desperate for God. Less at peace. Less rested. Because only in Him will I find rest. Only in Him will I find peace.

Psalm 37:4- Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

i. Joy

I had a conversation with a good friend this week about church, specifically youth ministry. He said that he understood the need for exciting things to attract kids to come and hear the message of Jesus. What I said was that I truly believe that the joy of God is attractive enough. I said I believe that if we really loved God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, that people will be drawn to hear what we’re all about. The peace, love, and joy that comes in knowing and loving Jesus and the power of His Spirit inside of us is all the advertisement the Gospel needs.

His response? Someone filled with the love and joy of God?

“I don’t know anyone like that.”

We need to hate this kind of faith that doesn’t love Jesus with everything we have. God hates it, our souls are discontent with it, and the world clearly doesn’t think it’s anything special. They need so badly to see people who truly love God above everything else. I mean, LOVE God.