(no subject)
This totally connected with me today. This article is from my favorite magazine, Relevant Magazine. The article is called "The Want to Want" by Ashley Herring. Very amazing :)
"I want a lot of things. I spend my days thinking about what I want and my hours trying to get what I want. That may sound completely self-involved and maybe it is, but think about your own days and hours. We want food, and we go about getting it. We want coffee, and that's an easy one with a Starbucks every 1.2 miles. We want sleep, so we take a nap. We want to talk, so we flip open our cell phones or hop on iChat or spend time with friends. We want to express ourselves, so we laugh and cry and get angry and become sad. Want, want, want. What about need, need, need? What exactly is the line between our need and our want? Fortunately, there isn't always a line. We need food, we need sleep, we need to talk and fellowship, we need to express ourselves. We may not need those new $60 jeans we just bought, but we do need clothes in some form. Still we are mostly a desire-driven generation, and that can lead us down some dangerous paths, the discussion of which will not occur in this article, so we can breathe a sigh of relief. So how are we to view our desire-driven selves? Is it all just selfishness and greed, or is it possible that we were made like this by a creative Creator who is also driven by desire?
Since the beginning of time and before, God has desired. He desired a creation, so He created one. He desired a relationship with creatures, and He forged one. He desired to be glorified in grace and to be with His love forever, so He sent Christ. The Psalms tell us He does as He pleases in the heavens and earth and in all deeps. Because we are made in His image, we too are creatures of desire. Ultimately, our desire is to be for Him, and He has created us in such a manner that He alone will fully satisfy our longings and desire. Moreover, He is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him, as John Piper and Jonathan Edwards scripturally teach us. We are made to desire, and to desire that which is worthy and altogether beautiful-Him.
So what's the problem? Because we all try to be fulfilled with things other than God. We all know that we run after a thousand other thrills and pleasures. Well, quite simply, sin is the problem. With the fall of man in Eden, Adam and Eve acted in such a manner because they thought other things would satisfy them, and as a result, we have spent the entire history of humanity trying to prove it. It has yet to be proved, and my bets are on the side that says it will never be proved. But we still try-oh, how we try! Hence, our desires take us on many paths-some seemingly harmless, like filling up our lonely night with food, or a movie, or a party. These are harmless in and of themselves, but we often use them to fill up what only He can fill up-at least I do-and that can start a dangerous pattern, leading us further from fulfillment. Our desires can also take dangerous turns like drinking to get drunk, misplaced sexual activity, drugs and unhealthy relationships. These behaviors aren't really the problem-the problem is the root from which they spring: our desires are crying out for satisfaction, and we think or convince ourselves that these things will fill. Shouldn't we know better by now? You'd think so, but I never cease to become a completely forgetful imbecile at least a few times a day.
I want God. I know He alone will fill me and make me complete. I know this, and my desire is for Him. But I want other things too, and very strongly. I sat last night wondering if this was right or wrong, because while I fully believe God gives us desires that are in line with His will as we seek Him, it is so easy for those desires, even the good ones, to take precedence. So I came to this conclusion, or rather, was led to this conclusion. I want God sometimes more than other times. Therefore in all times, this is to be my cry, one I think in which God delights and honors: I want to want You above all things. I long to long for You. I thirst to thirst further, as A.W. Tozer put it. I believe God loves this cry for a few reasons. One, you're being honest with Him about the state of your desire, and your interaction with God is, after all, a relationship. Two, the fact that we don't want Him sometimes, though it is a heartbreaking sentiment, is evidence of the flesh in us that will be a part of us until the end of our earthly lives. Therefore, the fact that we do want Him and do want to want Him even in the midst of our flesh and humanity is evidence that He is working in us and will not stop until He brings us to completion!
Throughout our lives with Christ, our desire for Him will be stronger or weaker than other times. When the weak rears its head, be encouraged that you long to long. Be happy that you want to want. Be hopeful that you thirst to thirst ever more. If we want to want Him, we will want Him, for certainly He desires for His Bride to delight in her Love. Moreover, if we want Him, we will have Him! I don't know much, but I do know this: those who hunger and thirst will be satisfied."
"I want a lot of things. I spend my days thinking about what I want and my hours trying to get what I want. That may sound completely self-involved and maybe it is, but think about your own days and hours. We want food, and we go about getting it. We want coffee, and that's an easy one with a Starbucks every 1.2 miles. We want sleep, so we take a nap. We want to talk, so we flip open our cell phones or hop on iChat or spend time with friends. We want to express ourselves, so we laugh and cry and get angry and become sad. Want, want, want. What about need, need, need? What exactly is the line between our need and our want? Fortunately, there isn't always a line. We need food, we need sleep, we need to talk and fellowship, we need to express ourselves. We may not need those new $60 jeans we just bought, but we do need clothes in some form. Still we are mostly a desire-driven generation, and that can lead us down some dangerous paths, the discussion of which will not occur in this article, so we can breathe a sigh of relief. So how are we to view our desire-driven selves? Is it all just selfishness and greed, or is it possible that we were made like this by a creative Creator who is also driven by desire?
Since the beginning of time and before, God has desired. He desired a creation, so He created one. He desired a relationship with creatures, and He forged one. He desired to be glorified in grace and to be with His love forever, so He sent Christ. The Psalms tell us He does as He pleases in the heavens and earth and in all deeps. Because we are made in His image, we too are creatures of desire. Ultimately, our desire is to be for Him, and He has created us in such a manner that He alone will fully satisfy our longings and desire. Moreover, He is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him, as John Piper and Jonathan Edwards scripturally teach us. We are made to desire, and to desire that which is worthy and altogether beautiful-Him.
So what's the problem? Because we all try to be fulfilled with things other than God. We all know that we run after a thousand other thrills and pleasures. Well, quite simply, sin is the problem. With the fall of man in Eden, Adam and Eve acted in such a manner because they thought other things would satisfy them, and as a result, we have spent the entire history of humanity trying to prove it. It has yet to be proved, and my bets are on the side that says it will never be proved. But we still try-oh, how we try! Hence, our desires take us on many paths-some seemingly harmless, like filling up our lonely night with food, or a movie, or a party. These are harmless in and of themselves, but we often use them to fill up what only He can fill up-at least I do-and that can start a dangerous pattern, leading us further from fulfillment. Our desires can also take dangerous turns like drinking to get drunk, misplaced sexual activity, drugs and unhealthy relationships. These behaviors aren't really the problem-the problem is the root from which they spring: our desires are crying out for satisfaction, and we think or convince ourselves that these things will fill. Shouldn't we know better by now? You'd think so, but I never cease to become a completely forgetful imbecile at least a few times a day.
I want God. I know He alone will fill me and make me complete. I know this, and my desire is for Him. But I want other things too, and very strongly. I sat last night wondering if this was right or wrong, because while I fully believe God gives us desires that are in line with His will as we seek Him, it is so easy for those desires, even the good ones, to take precedence. So I came to this conclusion, or rather, was led to this conclusion. I want God sometimes more than other times. Therefore in all times, this is to be my cry, one I think in which God delights and honors: I want to want You above all things. I long to long for You. I thirst to thirst further, as A.W. Tozer put it. I believe God loves this cry for a few reasons. One, you're being honest with Him about the state of your desire, and your interaction with God is, after all, a relationship. Two, the fact that we don't want Him sometimes, though it is a heartbreaking sentiment, is evidence of the flesh in us that will be a part of us until the end of our earthly lives. Therefore, the fact that we do want Him and do want to want Him even in the midst of our flesh and humanity is evidence that He is working in us and will not stop until He brings us to completion!
Throughout our lives with Christ, our desire for Him will be stronger or weaker than other times. When the weak rears its head, be encouraged that you long to long. Be happy that you want to want. Be hopeful that you thirst to thirst ever more. If we want to want Him, we will want Him, for certainly He desires for His Bride to delight in her Love. Moreover, if we want Him, we will have Him! I don't know much, but I do know this: those who hunger and thirst will be satisfied."