We MUST stop trying to find our satisfaction in things other than God. Things and people will ALWAYS disappoint us…We were made to be satisfied in God…If he isn’t our chief desire and the longing of our hearts…then discontentment will rule our lives.
And yes, I am still learning this myself.
Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.
~Westminster Shorter Catechism
Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing…No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.
~Psalm 16:5, 9
Everything on this planet that was created, has a creator, and was created with a purpose. When someone builds a house, they have a purpose in mind for building that house. It is to become a home, it is to be a place where people can rest, and be protected from the outside world, and the elements of nature. When someone designs and builds a car, it is built with a purpose in mind. It is transportation, to transport someone from point A to point B.
The Bible tells us that we too, as people, have a creator. Genesis 2:7 says, “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Multiple passages in the Old Testament speak of the way God has formed us in the womb. (Psalm 139:13, Isaiah 44:24, 49:5, Jeremiah 1:5) Seeing as though we too were created by a creator, the next logical question is, “What is our purpose?”
In my study of Scripture, I believe I’ve found two passages that give us this answer.
First, in Mark 12, Jesus is asked by a Scribe, “what is the most important commandment of all.” Jesus then says, (Mark 12:29-31) “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord your God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this; ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Jesus is here summing up what God had already told the nation of Israel back in Deuteronomy 6:4-6. Very simply what these two commandments tell us, is that we are to love God with all that we have, and with all that we are.
Second, in Ephesians 2:10 the Apostle Paul tells us this, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Very simply Paul is telling us that we were created for good works that He (God) has already prepared for us to do. God has prepared those things before the foundations of the earth. Technically I believe this last verse, can also be summed up in the previous two commands given to us by Jesus.
So what do we know so far? Everything on this planet is created, and is created with a purpose. We as people also have a creator, God, and we were created with a purpose as well. Our purpose is very simply to love God first and foremost, and to love people. These things work themselves out in various ways. But everything we do, must be rooted in our love for God first and then a love for people. If this is not the case in our lives, then we are missing our purpose. We are not doing what we were created to do.
So now we must ask ourselves, what happens when something that is created, doesn’t serve its purpose? Let’s look back to our previous two examples. When a house is not doing what it is built to do, when people aren’t living in it, when it cannot serve to protect people from the elements of nature what happens to it? Generally it is torn down and thrown away, unless it can be repaired. The same thing is true with a car. If a car is not able to do what it was created to do, when it cannot take a person from point A to point B, it is sold for scraps, or thrown into the scrap heap. That is of course, unless it can be repaired. People are no different. I believe we see great and frightening examples of this in two places in the book of Matthew. (3:12 & 25:41-46)
The great thing is though, we CAN be fixed, that is why Jesus came to earth…Read John 3:16-21 and pray.
God bless…
Be watching for a related post in the coming days…
A friend of mine was talking today about one of his biggest issues in his Christian walk is that he still sometimes loves sin more than he does Jesus. I completely understand what he’s saying, and can most certainly identify with him. I think I would word it in a different way though. It probably means basically the same thing, but I think to really deal with the root issue we have to say that sometimes, no, most times…we love ourselves more than we love Jesus. I think sin is really nothing more than us putting ourselves, and our desires, above those of God’s. I think when we word it the way my friend did, we almost…in some sense…are placing the blame on something outside of ourselves. But sin in itself isn’t the problem. The problem is our choosing to sin. The action is an expression of the state of our hearts. The answer doesn’t lie in trying to not sin…but in trying to love God. If we don’t love Him more than we love ourselves…piety doesn’t matter. You could live the most “righteous” life in the history of man…but if your heart isn’t in the right place. Does it really matter?
John the Baptist made a great and very wise statement when he said that he must decrease so that Jesus could increase. I believe he was referring mainly to how he was viewed in the eyes of the people. For us we need to take this statement in how we view ourselves in our own minds. There is a great line in a popular Christian song that I hear quite often, it says, “rid me of myself” and “lead me to the cross”. I believe this ought to be our prayer.
Just thinking….
