What You Really Want Won’t Make You Happy.

I used to think it was true that if you want something so much that it makes you miserable to not have it, that the reason you are miserable is that you want that thing too much. I suppose in part, that is true enough, but I think that sentiment actually falls short of the full truth.

We are designed by God to know God and enjoy being known by God. The way we do that is only through casting off hope in anything and everything else in the universe to look upon Jesus for salvation from sin and redemption to relationship with God, and to keep looking His direction forever. So it should suffice to say the one who pursues happiness need look no further than to Christ Jesus for the rest of his days and there find the rest, happiness, and fulfillment he has longed for every day of his life. A single hope to know God and enjoy Him forever is the only Hope we shall ever need. But we are left with a lot of other desires that must be dealt with.

What I have found, though, is that securing that as one’s single hope is not easy to do by any means, and I do not intend here to try to answer how to sufficiently look to and hope in God and there find happiness. Rather, it is my aim to expose a truth about people and our fickle desires and our feeble ability to be truly pleased when we get them. One of the most basic truths of people is that we have the peculiar ability to fix our desire and attention on most anything and expect it to solve the mystery of our discontentment and satisfy it fully. However, I have found that the times I most truly enjoy something is when that thing is not what I had presently set my heart upon. I am a decent musician, but have no hopes of gaining attention or reputation for my abilities. I simply enjoy making and listening to music, and sometimes, often when I expect it least, I am swept up by the most beautiful or invigorating music. In those moments, though I was not looking for them, the only way I can enjoy those sounds more is to either bask in their glory with eyes shut or join with them and sing or play or drum along. I love music, but I know that if I were to set my hope upon being recognized as a great musician, and respected and known for my ability, music would become a means to an end, and I would grow to either hate it in my failure, or love it only insofar as it points to my glory in my success. But I would not actually enjoy music any more.

I believe this is true of most anything a man could desire in life: his work, a relationship with a woman and marriage, a new possession, the best of foods or comforts, a well-ordered home life. It is admirable to work at seeking these things out. We have been commissioned of God to “work and till the earth,” to cultivate culture and our homes and hone our abilities and do with excellence anything we would set our minds to. But we must distinguish for ourselves whether the chief end of our pursuit is for God’s glory or for our own. We must beware humbly what our hearts would hope in and pray diligently for such an awareness. It is no wonder that Buddhists seek to eliminate desire altogether. They rightly identify that behind every evil we perceive in this world lies human desires. They rightly see that they are very dangerous, but their conclusion is misdirected. Desire is not an enemy to be destroyed, but rather a gift from God that must be redirected by Grace to motivate us to pursue those things we would pursue with a passion and energy for God’s renown that puts Christ on display as the only worthy End of our pursuits.

Quiet Enough to Hear the Voice

“Religion has accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity and bluster make man dear to God. But we may take heart. To a people caught in the tempest of the last great conflict God says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10), and still He says it, as if He means to tell us that our strength and safety lie not in noise but in silence. It is important that we get still to wait on God. And it is best that we get alone, preferably with our Bible spread out before us. Then if we will we may draw near to God and begin to hear Him speak to us in our hearts.” – A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

I think I do not consciously believe this lie that my spiritual or religious activity make me close to God, but functionally I live it out almost every day. When I survey the often shallow landscape of my walk with God, I look at my Christian activities—my small group leadership, my service on the worship team at church, my morning devotions, my volunteer work—and conclude that “I’m doing well in my relationship with Him”. In truth, my feelings about “how I’m doing” are often just quick things I make up to make myself feel better about how much I actually ignore God and am more focused on the next hobby session or the next trinket or book I buy from Amazon.com.

I believe it is this self-focus that keeps me from regularly having meaningful time with Jesus. My approach is wrong. I look at my life, and then take the Gospel, the proof of God’s Great Love for me and desire for my good and the good of this world through Jesus, and spread a thin layer like spackeling putty over my life to fill in any knicks or holes I notice I’ve created in the past few days. The Gospel becomes a tool to patch up my conscience about my sin, in particular my deep selfishness, so that I can get back to what I really want to do.

What I need to do, and this is where Tozer’s insight is helpful, is learn “that our strength and safety lie not in noise but in silence.” If I regularly experience anything like a tempest in my life, it is the normal drumbeat of life that, like a Siren, draws my attention away from Jesus and serving others and bends my thoughts inward trying to constantly answer the questions, “What do I want? What do I need? What would make me happy?” I sinfully want to be able to both answer those questions finally and go fulfill the answer to them. That is the noise of my life that I try to find strength and safety in. It is the lie that I scream to myself all the time, “I can acquire for myself that which will fulfill my soul!”

God says otherwise. And Tozer is practical in his application of this verse: “It is important that we get still to wait on God. And it is best that we get alone, preferably with our Bible spread out before us.” I cannot expect to hear from God and learn to fix my eyes upon Jesus and be deeply thankful for the Cross and even more deeply transformed to be like Jesus if I never truly stop and listen. The point of daily devotions is to do no more than this. Yet how often have I forgotten that. I have too many times turned personal worship time into theological analysis time. I sit and read a few verses and then write pages of stuff about it, rarely letting it weigh heavily upon my soul and change me. God would have me sit before him in silence until I hear from him. Instead, I sit down and rush through a few verses, make a few notes, and say a quick, routine prayer (mostly for myself) before rushing on to the next thing.

Tozer says the intention of my heart should be to “draw near to God” so that I may then hear Him speak to me in my heart. This is personal worship. I sit down and open the Scriptures and then simply ask to see and hear. The point of it all is to know God in personal experience, the way Jesus intended us to know him when he saved us: a foretaste of what we are promised to experience forever with Him in heaven. So my hope is to learn to experience God through personal worship in the progression that Tozer describes:

“First a sound as of a Presence walking in the garden. Then a Voice, more intelligible, but still far from clear. Then the happy moment when the Spirit begins to illuminate the Scriptures, and that which had been only a sound, or at best voice, now becomes an intelligible word, warm and intimate and clear as the word of a dear friend. Then will come life and light, and best of all, ability to see and rest in and embrace Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and All.”

We are all fools if we think we met and experienced Jesus enough once in a moment of conversion. The goal of the whole Christian life is to know God deeply and trust Him fully as we “see and rest in and embrace Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and All.” None of us have done that perfectly. I certainly haven’t. I’ve been too preoccupied with my hobbies and pity parties about how life isn’t exactly how I want it to be. But I want the sight Tozer is talking about here. I want to be discontent with not yet having enough of Jesus, which would drive me to Him, rather than discontent with other desires, which so often draw me away from Him. I want to rise each morning and seek Him out in His Word, the Bible, and to be unwilling to move on until I have heard his Voice. I want to learn to finally listen to the voice that always whispers, “That isn’t really what you want” whenever I am tempted to sin. And I am convinced that will never happen until I am ready to sit in silence and wait until I hear the faintest sound of a Presence walking in the garden.

The Pursuit of God

It occurred to me this morning as I finished reading my four chapters of Scripture for January 20 in D.A. Carson’s For the Love of God, Vol. 1 and began reading chapter one of A.W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God for the second time that it was this book that began for me a journey in August of 2007 that changed the way I live. I had just transferred to UNC Wilmington to finish a bachelor’s degree, in Film Studies, with hopes of moving to northern California and working for Pixar or getting some experience on set and making feature films in Hollywood. Either way, I considered myself a Christian, and a good one, too.

However, something had been changing for me recently. I had only months before discovered the lively, gruff, and direct, but very clear and gracious preaching of Mark Driscoll, and his presentation of the gospel was not like anything else I had heard before. As I continued listening to sermon after sermon, I became very convicted that I was one of the ‘religious people’ he kept yelling about, insisting that being religious and keeping all the rules doesn’t make you Christian.

That’s the backdrop of my Christian life prior to picking up The Pursuit of God off of my parents’ bookshelf before leaving home to go to Wilmington for the Fall semester. I remember reading chapter one and realizing in the quiet of my dorm room the reality that though I was a believer for sure, there was such a lack of affection for God in my heart. I read my Bible daily, but there was no vigor in it. I was rarely driven to deep, heartfelt prayer, yearning for the presence of the Holy Spirit. About the only time I really prayed hard like that was when I found myself in the midst of besetting patterns of sin with which I struggled, longing to walk in freedom and to be as clean on the inside as I appeared to be on the inside.

Tozer’s point in the chapter I was reading is that American Christianity has become so nicely packaged that we act as if there is no real work required to have a relationship with Jesus. We have so programmed our churches and our Christians that it’s commonplace for Christians to think that if they attend church, sing in the choir, show up for church workday and help mow the grass, do all the good things and avoid doing all the bad things and share their faith every so often, that they will have a healthy, vibrant relationship with God. Tozer commiserates the way that the pure and simple gospel and beloved, life-giving, refreshing doctrines of the faith have been replaced with pithy sayings (like ‘once saved, always saved’), and Christian versions of quasi-optimistic self-help books, saying:

The doctrine of justification by faith—a biblical truth, and a blessed relief from sterile legalism and unavailing self-effort—has in our time fallen into evil company and been interpreted by many in such a manner as actually to bar men from the knowledge of God…Christ may be “recieved” without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver. The man is “saved,” but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God. In fact, he is specifically taught to be satisfied and is encouraged to be content with little…[and later on he says] We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him, we need no more seek Him.

One cannot read that sort of thing, if he is serious about being a committed believer in and follower of Christ, and not be affected to the core of his being. Every pronoun Tozer wrote in those paragraphs, I was replacing with ‘you’ in my mind, feeling convicted that my own heart continuously fails to seek God with a great deal of fervor. Then I remember getting to the end of the chapter, having agreed with everything Tozer was saying about the lack of seriousness with which Christians approach God, and he included this prayer, which so expressed my heart at that moment, and did so again this morning upon reading it for the second time:

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

So my encouragement to you is to read this book. My hope in sharing my story with you is to create in you a holy discontentment, a desire to desire more of God. That is what God is doing in me through this book and through his Word (and you need both).

Buy The Pursuit of God

Life Goal: Memorize the New Testament

I normally am not this ambitious, but I decided that I want to memorize the whole New Testament before I die. My reasons why:

• Nothing is more worthy of my time and effort.
• Nothing is more excellent to have in my thoughts.
• Nothing is more helpful to others than to be able to speak truth into darkness, fear or pain at any time.
• Nothing else kills pride like the testimony of Scripture of my great need for a gracious and merciful Savior like Jesus.

I did a little research to see what I’m up against. In the RSV, there are 7,958 verses. I’m sure I have more memorized than this in various verses scattered about, but in terms of whole passages, so far I definitely have:

• Colossians: 95 verses.
• 1 Peter 1:1–2:10 : 35 verses.
• Matthew 6:25–34 : 10 verses.
• Ephesians 2:1–10 :  10 verses.

TOTAL: 150 verses.
% Complete: 1.9%

The Power of God

“For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” – 1 Corinthians 1:17

Glorifying Human Speech

Why would preaching the gospel “with words of eloquent wisdom” empty the cross of its power?

Paul seems to believe that there is a way to preach the gospel that minimizes, drains, undervalues, underestimates, or as he says “empties” it of the power that it has to save. Perhaps what he is observing about words of eloquent wisdom is that there is a tendency in the human mind to glorify human speech. Indeed in their culture, Greek philosophy and rhetoric were highly prized and those who mastered the oratory arts were often regarded and praised for their ability. Paul sees seeking to employ methods and tools that are idolized by the culture as a threat to the power of the gospel to save. We should note that Paul seems to make a deliberate decision to not speak with such eloquence, possibly even as part of his God-given task to preach the gospel: “…but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom…” We may infer that Paul is telling us not that he is simply incapable of employing such eloquence, but that Christ had given him what his task was (to preach the gospel), but also charged him with how he should preach it (not with words of wisdom), and he then tells us why this is so (lest the cross be emptied of its power).

The Power of God

Therefore, Paul will present the gospel in plain speech and rely on the power of the cross itself, communicated to the heart of the hearer by the Holy Spirit, lest someone accept the gospel on the basis of anything other than “the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18).  Verse 18 is most helpful in this analysis.

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18

So Paul’s ground for saying that he must not and will not rely on eloquence and wordly wisdom is that his message is foolishness to those who do not and will not believe; “those who are perishing.” However, “[those] who are being saved,” those who will believe, do not need elaborate arguments and clever words, they need only hear the message, clear and free of anything man might try to add. Why? Because for those who will believe, God’s elect, the message itself is the power of God.

For the Proclaimer

The reality of the simple gospel message is that it is the 100% truth about God and Paul is convinced that it is all that is needed for a person to believe and be reconciled to God. Further, Paul seems convinced that salvation is God’s sovereign work through the clear presentation of the glorious message of the perfect incarnation and life, sacrificial and substitutionary death, burial, resurrection, exaltation, rule and reign of Jesus Christ. Thus, how we preach this gospel does matter. We must remember that as the human agents of God’s reconciliation, our task and sole priority is to be clear and rely on the Holy Spirit, trusting that the gospel alone and itself is “the power of God unto salvation for those who will believe.” (Romans 1:16) As Christians who want to point our friends, family and neighbors, baristas and co-workers to Christ, this should be extremely comforting and encouraging. We should rejoice that God has employed us in his mission AND left the responsibility of convincing and converting unbelievers to himself, requiring us to simply be faithful and trust that his message of grace is his power flowing through us to the hearer. Thus, we need not fear failing when we share the gospel, simply as we may do it. It is the power of God!

The Interests of Others – Part 1

If we’re honest, we are all proud people. If you deny this, you’re proving my point. God has been working in my heart recently through reading a small, short book by C.J. Mahaney titled Humility. By God’s grace, I’m learning to see what a proud, arrogant man I am – often in areas and ways I would normally have denied. So I’ve sought to supplement all the help I’ve received there with looking into what Scripture has to say about humility, in an effort to pursue humility and kill pride by God’s grace. I’ve found Philippians 2 is a great place to start in seeking to understand humility, because here Paul is encouraging the Philippian Christians to look at Jesus’ perfect example of humility (and true greatness) as their ground for pursuing humble attitudes and actions toward one another. Part 1 will address our attitude toward others, and Part 2 will look specifically at Christ’s awesome example of humility.

Paul’s choice of words in this text is interesting. He does not simply say, “Don’t be proud, be humble.” Rather, he pictures for us what he means as he exhorts us toward humility. He says, not this picture of what it looks like to live proudly, but this picture of what it looks like to live humbly. Don’t do anything from a motive of either thinking yourself better than others (conceit) or from a motive of competing and trying to show how you are better than others (rivalry), but rather lift others up, put others first, “count [or “consider”] others more significant than yourselves.”

We should note as well that in pointing the Philippians (and us) toward a life of pursuing humility and pursuing the good of others before our own good, he is not encouraging self-debasement. He does not tell us to tear ourselves down and belittle our accomplishments and good qualities in order to lift others up. He does not tell us to deny altogether our own needs, which would be more like asceticism than humble love for and service to others. We know this because he says in verse 4: “let each of you look not only for his own interests…” So humility is not simply self-neglect, but a shift of primary concern. God would have us shift our primary concern from that of our own needs (for which Scripture tells us to trust that God is our Provider) to that of the needs and interests of others. I’ve learned to ask myself a few questions to help cultivate a lifestyle of looking to the interests of others, and killing sinful self-interest:

1. Why do I want to say this/do this?
2. Do I want to say or do this because it will make me look good to those I want to impress?
3. If I say this, is it mostly to make me feel good about myself, or will it be helpful and encouraging to others?
4. Am I speaking and acting in a way that makes others feel comfortable and accepted?
5. Does this action primarily serve me and my ego or someone else?
6. Will saying/doing this make Jesus look attractive and satisfying, or does it make me look attractive, smart, funny, cool, etc?

It’s a short list, but I’m convinced all of these questions flow out of a desire to kill the root of self-exaltation, self-centeredness and pride, and replace those feelings and desires with Christ-exaltation, Christ-centeredness, and a growing (though far from perfect) sense of humility, by God’s grace. I’m thankful for men like C.J. Mahaney who do reflect a humble heart of service to God and others, whom God has used to inspire this grace-driven effort pursuit of humility in my life.

Patience

The thing I’m finding about patience is that along with being a fruit of the Holy Spirit, practicing Patience is rooted in trusting and believing in the promise of God and the fact that He loves His children and wants what is best for us.

“For what does the Scripture say?  ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’ ” – Romans 4:3

Abraham waited patiently for a son for almost 100 years. Yes, he became impatient and heeded the voice of Sarai to sleep with Hagar, yet God forgave his sin and kept his covenant with Abraham and gave him Isaac through Sarah as he had promised. So what I get from that is that God is able and willing to graciously do good for us despite our impatience and unbelief. By His grace through faith in Jesus we are forgiven and are able to once again practice patience in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So when I feel like God has begun to do something in me or for me, I can believe that however His timing works out, it is for my good. Scripture tells us this elsewhere as well:

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,  for those who are called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 1:6

So often, the reason we aren’t patient in a given situation or with a given expectation is because we trust in our own ability to push forward, and place a greater value on our own plan and timing than on the sovereign grace and timing of God Almighty. Thus, we not only doubt His ability, we also doubt His goodness and love of us. If we really think about it, of course now is when we think should get what we want. What we should question, then, is our own motives behind wanting now what God is obviously waiting to give.

Let us also not forget our ultimate purpose in times that require an extra measure of patience: To make much of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus in all spheres of life and to enjoy Him as life’s greatest Treasure. Let us not continue living the way Paul describes mankind in Romans 1,

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”  – Romans 1:21

We must honor God, first and foremost, and be willing to suffer times of waiting, for the glory of His name according to His purposes, trusting that seeing it come in God’s perfect timing will give us much greater joy than seizing it outside of His will right now.

A Hint…

I was thinking this morning about Ephesians 5:3-4 as I was confronted with it while reading Chapter 4 of Every Man’s Battle. It says:

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there by obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place.”

So, not a hint of sexual immorality? As I thought about what it means to have a “hint” of something, my thoughts wandered to one of my favorite breakfast cereals, Quaker Oatmeal Squares. The box proudly states just below the title that it contains “a hint of brown sugar.” Now, the curious thing is about there being a hint of brown sugar is that it is, in fact, there, though you don’t necessarily notice it when you eat take a bite, saying, “man, this tastes like brown sugar!” (What does brown sugar really taste like anyway?) By including a hint of brown sugar, the makers of the cereal meant to influence the cereal (and thus, the experience of consuming it) in some way.

That same truth applies to sexual immorality, Paul says, when he writes this passage to the Ephesians. “Don’t include that hint of sexual immorality in the recipe of your life,” he says. Furthermore, certainly don’t have it as a primary ingredient. But how many of us keep it in there as a primary ingredient? I have to ask myself: Am I including lust and impure thoughts as part of the recipe of my life? Is there even a hint? Can others detect it? Would they notice the difference in me if that hint were removed?

To the Corinthians, a young, messed up church in Greece just a few miles west of Athens, Paul wrote:

“It is actually reported th at there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles – that a man has his fathers wife! (Yes, that would be his MOM!) And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away among you…Your glorifying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” – 1Corinthians 5: 1-2; 6-7

Paul boldly pointed out how much of a “hint” the Corinthians were adding to their lives. And he points out that they were proud and not heartbroken and contrite about their sin, nor acting as God would in righteous anger, sending them out from among them if they would not repent. He then goes on to explain with a metaphor that just as a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough, so will a little sexual immorality affect the whole church, working its way throughout the body, sometimes in the form of others participating in such sin, and sometimes in the form of tolerance, where the people just accept that it’s going on in the church and not doing anything about it. So also will “a little leaven”, even a hint of sexual immorality, affect our whole lives.

Sexual immorality wedges itself between us and God. It breaks our fellowship with Him. It makes us numb to its presence, we no longer detect it in music, television, movies, the clothing we choose to wear, the clothing we like to see girls wear, everything. That’s not a life of purity and repentance lived to the glory of God. But it’s just a hint, right? Guys, we aren’t sleeping with girls, we aren’t even sleeping with just one girl. But do we look at porn? Maybe. Do we watch films with nudity or racy sex scenes? Maybe. Are we thinking lustful thoughts about the girls we interact with regularly? Maybe. Is that acceptable? Is it a hint of sexual immorality? YES.

I’m convinced that God is serious about the subject when he says, “AMONG YOU THERE SHOULD NOT BE EVEN A HINT OF SEXUAL IMMORALITY!” Let’s step up, guys. I’m ready to. After nearly ten years of struggling day-in and day-out with lust and temptation, I’m done with playing the game of “just a hint” that Satan wants us to play. He knows he can’t have our souls because we belong to Jesus, but he gets us to do just enough to keep us from growing, to keep us from obeying, worshiping, loving, serving Jesus and our neighbors.

I’m asking you, Christian man, to step up with me. Be honest about this with your pastors, Sunday School teachers, mentors, fathers, men in the church and GET SOME HELP! Find someone to keep you accountable to your thoughts, looks, internet habits, etc.

I’m asking you, non-Christian, to listen to the words of the gospel and understand what God wants for you. He is a Holy God, and demands holiness. Holiness that we cannot achieve because we are sinners. We cannot enter heaven and be with Him if we have sin that has not been paid for. We cannot pay the price for it, because God demands a holy sacrifice. Jesus is that sacrifice. He came as God in human flesh (In – carn – ation: God with meat/flesh), lived a perfect life as a man, without sin, and died a grotesque and painful death – mocked, beaten, nailed to a cross and then hung to die a long death. Furthermore, all the sin of the world came on Him that day and God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” That means, that by His sacrifice, Jesus became our righteousness. This is an act of God’s grace, His undeserved favor on us. He looks at us and sees not filthy, repulsive sinners as we are, but loves us and wants us to accept his forgiveness, to humble ourselves in His sight, acknowledge our sin, our offense against Him, and repent of our evil ways – repent meaning to turn from them and not pursue them any longer.

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from sexual immorality;” – 1 Thessalonians 4: 3

God wants us to live transformed lives, and He Himself, wants to transform us by cleansing us from our sin, from whatever “hint” of immorality we might keep in our lives, and by giving us His Holy Spirit as our Counselor, to teach our hearts and guide our lives.

So what would Quaker Oatmeal Squares be like without a hint of brown sugar? I don’t know. But what would our lives look like without a hint of sexual immorality? Well, it would look a little more like Jesus, “our Passover,” who sacrificed His life for us, who had mercy on us, and who freely gives His grace to us.

Lord Jesus, I confess that I’ve had much more than a hint of sexual immorality. I have set evil, impure things before my eyes and lusted in my heart. You have said in Your Word that such things are not fitting and are improper for Your holy people. Forgive me I pray. “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Thank you, Jesus, for saving me, for giving me your grace and forgiving my sin. I don’t deserve your mercy, yet you give it. I’ve done nothing great to serve you, yet you continue to provide me with opportunity – more chances than one can count. I want to be pure before you, O God. I desire for the little leaven in my life to be gone and replaced with a desire to serve You, and to obey You. I desire to be “a new lump,” ( 1 Cor. 5:7) set apart and cleansed from my old ways. Forgive me for taking the truth in Your Word lightly, for trivializing my sin. God, I pray that I could learn to take you seriously in every way. I pray that I would learn to honor You by obeying Your Word, for “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your Word. – Ps. 119: 9” In your precious and Holy name I pray, Amen.

Fellowship – Romans 15:22-24

“For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you. But now lo no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you, whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while.” 

In this section of scripture, we see a very interesting aspect of Paul’s personality and really, an important principle of Christian living.

Paul writes in verse 23 that he no longer has a place to do God’s work where he is, and further that he has a “great desire” to come to them.

This great desire Paul has indicates that he knows these people, perhaps well. They appear to be friends whom Paul deeply loves and desires fellowship with. Many times in Paul’s writings we see him declare his desire to be with the people to whom he ministers. This fellowship Paul longs for is the fellowship that we (at least should) so greatly enjoy as the church.

Why then is this Christian fellowship so desirable? I believe that God desires fellowship among believers because it serves the purpose of building the church. When fellow Christians assemble to, as Paul says in verse 24, “enjoy [each other’s] company for a while,” we encourage each other in the Lord and share in the love of Jesus that He has for us. We fulfill Christ’s commandment of John 15:12 where Jesus says, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (NKJV)”

I believe that this sharing in love, this love for one another we must cultivate through our relationship with Jesus, is the very thing that God graciously gave Paul to help him to continue his ministry. Yes, ultimately it was his desire to obey the commandment of God (which he received audibly from the mouth of Jesus, by the way; Acts 9:1-9), that call on his life, but God used the sweet fellowship of believers in the various churches he started to help Paul persevere during his times of discomfort and missing his friends.

We take for granted the time we spend together in fellowship. Let us take every opportunity together to encourage and edify one another in Christ that we might live our lives toward righteousness and obedience to God because of Jesus’ great complete, unmeasurable love and grace he has given to us freely.

If we forget for a minute the grace that we’ve been given from Jesus, our focus is averted from Him to ourselves. When that happens, we are no longer concerned for the well-being of others and about loving others, we only care about our benefit. However, if we can remain with our focus and purpose being God’s glory in or perhaps “by” our lives we find that it’s easier to remain selfless, and to love others.