Have you ever wanted something so badly that you were willing to rearrange your entire life in order to get it? Whether it’s a relationship, a dream job, or an athletic achievement, we all have things that we deeply desire and pursue. In fact, we can give ourselves so fully to these pursuits that we never stop and ask if they are, in fact, worthy of our investment of time, money, talent and emotion.
God deeply desires that we live full and meaningful lives (see John 10:10). And yet, so often our picture of “life to the fullest” fails to match up with God’s desire for us. We are bombarded daily with a tidal wave of competing promises of fulfillment and happiness. We’re told that happiness is found in sex, money, power, education, and social status. If we have all of these, then surely we’re living the good life. What else could we possibly want or desire?
If we buy into this picture of the good life, then fail to achieve all of these things, we believe that we are failures and we start telling ourselves lies: “If God truly loved me, he would have given me that job.” “If God knew just how deeply I wanted this relationship to work out, He never would have let them leave.” We must remember that the full and meaningful life is never found in our situations or circumstances. Our deepest desires are met when we seek to know and follow Jesus, not because of what He does for us, but simply because He loves us.
In Mark’s gospel, Bartimaeus asks Jesus to heal his blindness. This is a deep desire of his heart, yet he doesn’t simply view Jesus as a miraculous healer passing through town. He isn’t asking Jesus to swoop in and solve his problem so he can get on with living the good life. He knows that in Jesus the deepest desires of the human heart are met; in following Jesus every longing he’s ever had for identity and purpose is now met.
Jesus is inviting us today to explore the deepest desires of our heart. If you’ve sought to find answers in other places but have been left wanting, turn afresh to Jesus. Free yourself from empty promises of fulfillment and find your identity, purpose, and worth in following Jesus.
Our prayer: Father thank you for your calling to be your disciple. Along this walk at times our desires do not align with yours. Father convict us through the power of your Spirit to trust your way above our own that we might experience the fullness of all you have promised us in following You and Your plan Amen.
--
Pastor Todd A. Brown
First Baptist of Chesterbrook
and Independent Travel Agent "Travel by Todd"
First Baptist of Chesterbrook
and Independent Travel Agent "Travel by Todd"
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.