There’s a lot of maturing involved in growing up. A child tends to look at the world through the eyes of “what can I get now?” It takes a lot of maturing to realize just how selfish that attitude is. It is as we get older that we come to savor relationships for more than what we can get out of them; it takes maturing to come to appreciate the relationship for the value of the person we share the relationship with.
I believe the same is true of the Christian walk. Our relationship with God needs to come to that place where it is more than what we can get or receive from God; it needs to come to the place where we enjoy the relationship for the sake of the One we have been privileged to have the relationship with. The preachers who impress me the most are those who are able to really bring home and inspire their listeners to want to have a closer relationship with God. I feel so inept at conveying my point sometimes. For reasons I will never really understand, God wants a relationship with us. That’s all this Christian walk is about. God created us with the purpose of having a relationship with Him. When we sinned and severed ourselves from God, He sent His Son to die for our sin so that we could be restored unto Him. Walking with God, coming to know Him for Who He is, learning to love Him: this is the very essence of what the Christian life is meant to be about.
If your focus is on trying to see how much sin you are allowed and still keep your salvation, I would say to you: your heart isn’t right and it is time to repent.
If your focus is on what you can from God in terms of “spiritual gifts” or “spiritual experiences”, I would say: you’ve really lost sight of the goal and the target. It is okay to desire spiritual gifts. It is okay to want those times of deep spiritual fulfillment. This is never to become our focus, though. Our focus should be on God, seeking to know Him, growing in love for Him, and finding from His Word how we can please Him.
May this be our heart’s cry:
“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1
Amen Rachael. I think that part of the reason we have so many mega churches is due to the fact that most people claiming to be christians are only in it for what they think they can get from God. Not that God does not bless us because He most certainly does. However, blessing doesn’t necessarily mean it will come financially or even being healed physically. The biggest and best blessing we have is a relationship with God and an eternity spent in His presence in heaven. We can rest in these facts and have the perfect peace of God no matter what may come our way.
Well said, Dawn!
I recently heard a statement that was very thought-provoking. It went something along the lines of:
“Jesus isn’t here to give you more [material blessings], he’s here to take away what you have.”
The context of that statement was surrendering EVERYTHING to the Lordship of Christ… kind-of in the spirit of “God never promised it would be easy. He only promised to help us along the way.”
Its about time the people in the pews (and sometimes the pastors) grasped ahold of what true Christianity is. Good post.
Quite true, Sophie. You make a good point. Many Christians like to focus on the blessings and the promises that go with Christianity while completely ignoring the passages that talk about the cost of discipleship. Thanks for reminding me of that; you may have just inspired a future post!