In the previous post ("The Ultimate Ambition", July 28, 2013), I wrote about what it means to be truly in love with God. Here are a few more thoughts along those lines.
The more we become emotionally invested in the things that are on God's heart and less emotionally invested in the things are our on our hearts -- well, the better everything becomes and the more our lives have real meaning in His eyes, as He defines real meaning.
I have to put this in human terms, always a less than satisfactory way of describing God and His ways, but it's all I can think to write for now: Is my happiness tied up in His happiness? Or, so long as I'm happy, do I really care whether He is happy? In that last sentence, substitute the words contented, satisfied, and fulfilled for the word "happy". Go ahead, take a moment and try it.
Ask yourself:
Let's ask it this way: what do I daydream about and long for? My list or His list? My small stack of temporary stuff or His unlimited treasure of eternal stuff?
Speaking of His stuff, let's see what sort of things are on His list, not that I know more than a very small part. His list, after all, includes eternity and all kinds of wonderful things we can't even imagine, but at least we can know some of the stuff that thrills Him:
1. Reconciling His creation back to Himself, restoring everything back into right relationship with Himself (Colossians 1:20).
2. Carrying as many people into eternity with Himself as possible (1 Timothy 2:4).
3. Putting His character and nature on display because He wants to be known (Hebrews 8:11).
4. Conforming us to the image of His Son. Though we don't know everything that means because none of us reach that goal this side of heaven, we do know that He is so determined to make this happen that He will use everything that happens to move us towards this goal. (Romans 8:28-30).
5. Having His redeemed trust Him, especially when things are rough and trusting is a stretch, scary, or deeply self-sacrificing. (Here we go with human terms again). He absolutely loves it when He can nudge those around His throne and say, "Look at that one! Do you see my child trusting Me in spite of ....?" (Ephesians 3:10)
6. Making it so the things we do right flow easily as the natural result of what we are becoming...making it so that the right things we do (and the wrong things we don't do) are less and less about the rules and more and more about being like Him on the inside (Matthew 23:23)
7. Being thrilled when His children are encouraged and strengthened, growing into wise and mature sons and daughters (2 Peter 3:18)
8. Being even more thrilled when someone new chooses to become a member of His family through repentance, faith, and surrender to Jesus (Luke 15:7).
9. Having us see people more as He sees them, understanding the value that He places on them (1 Peter 1:18-19. For much more on this part of God's list, read my blog post "A Question of Value", February 6, 2013. It's one of my favorites).
He is the One who opens the eyes of our hearts to these things. He is the One who helps us wrap our hearts and minds around this bigger vision. He is the One who changes my definition of a successful life. He is the One who leads us to lose ourselves in the wonder and beauty of something much bigger.
That's a lot to get lost in, so I want to close by repeating the opening premise: The more we become emotionally invested in the things that are on God's heart and less emotionally invested in the things are our on our hearts, the better everything becomes and the more our lives have real meaning.
Pray into this and see where He takes you.
The more we become emotionally invested in the things that are on God's heart and less emotionally invested in the things are our on our hearts -- well, the better everything becomes and the more our lives have real meaning in His eyes, as He defines real meaning.
I have to put this in human terms, always a less than satisfactory way of describing God and His ways, but it's all I can think to write for now: Is my happiness tied up in His happiness? Or, so long as I'm happy, do I really care whether He is happy? In that last sentence, substitute the words contented, satisfied, and fulfilled for the word "happy". Go ahead, take a moment and try it.
Ask yourself:
- So long as I'm contented, do I really care whether He is contented?
- So long as I'm satisfied, do I really care whether He is satisfied?
- So long as I'm happy, do I really care whether He is happy?
Let's ask it this way: what do I daydream about and long for? My list or His list? My small stack of temporary stuff or His unlimited treasure of eternal stuff?
Speaking of His stuff, let's see what sort of things are on His list, not that I know more than a very small part. His list, after all, includes eternity and all kinds of wonderful things we can't even imagine, but at least we can know some of the stuff that thrills Him:
1. Reconciling His creation back to Himself, restoring everything back into right relationship with Himself (Colossians 1:20).
2. Carrying as many people into eternity with Himself as possible (1 Timothy 2:4).
3. Putting His character and nature on display because He wants to be known (Hebrews 8:11).
4. Conforming us to the image of His Son. Though we don't know everything that means because none of us reach that goal this side of heaven, we do know that He is so determined to make this happen that He will use everything that happens to move us towards this goal. (Romans 8:28-30).
5. Having His redeemed trust Him, especially when things are rough and trusting is a stretch, scary, or deeply self-sacrificing. (Here we go with human terms again). He absolutely loves it when He can nudge those around His throne and say, "Look at that one! Do you see my child trusting Me in spite of ....?" (Ephesians 3:10)
6. Making it so the things we do right flow easily as the natural result of what we are becoming...making it so that the right things we do (and the wrong things we don't do) are less and less about the rules and more and more about being like Him on the inside (Matthew 23:23)
7. Being thrilled when His children are encouraged and strengthened, growing into wise and mature sons and daughters (2 Peter 3:18)
8. Being even more thrilled when someone new chooses to become a member of His family through repentance, faith, and surrender to Jesus (Luke 15:7).
9. Having us see people more as He sees them, understanding the value that He places on them (1 Peter 1:18-19. For much more on this part of God's list, read my blog post "A Question of Value", February 6, 2013. It's one of my favorites).
He is the One who opens the eyes of our hearts to these things. He is the One who helps us wrap our hearts and minds around this bigger vision. He is the One who changes my definition of a successful life. He is the One who leads us to lose ourselves in the wonder and beauty of something much bigger.
That's a lot to get lost in, so I want to close by repeating the opening premise: The more we become emotionally invested in the things that are on God's heart and less emotionally invested in the things are our on our hearts, the better everything becomes and the more our lives have real meaning.
Pray into this and see where He takes you.
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