ENJOYING GOD

Something is missing from our lives. It’s the enjoyment of God as our supreme treasure, our “Pearl of Great Price”… our “Treasure in a Field.”  Something is wrong with our approach to life. It’s our foolish determination to enjoy something else, some paltry thing of this momentary pilgrimage on earth, as much as only God can be enjoyed and to value our pleasure more than God’s glory.  Experiencing God is in itself a source of greater pleasure than experiencing anyone or anything else. If we would taste the intimacy awaiting us in the Godhead. If we would experience what it is to draw near to God and to feel Him draw near to us. If we realized how we’re the ones to whom the Father and Son through the Spirit reveal themselves and in whom They make Their home. Then we would keep our Self’s addictive desire for earthy blessings – Your Best Life Now -- in its place – nailed to the Cross of Christ, and focus on our Blessed Hope – our Best Life Later. As Self dies our desire to desire anything but God dies also leaving God as our first thing passion.   

Hear the words of the Apostle Paul: “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content … And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content … Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have … giving thanks always for all things to God… For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you … Now godliness with contentment is great gain.” When our first thing passion is Jesus we will accept life’s circumstances with contentment, thankfully recognizing God’s sovereignty in all matters of life. The gain of contentment is Joy… the Joy of the Lord!

The knowledge that God and man can live in fellowship is hidden in Christ. It is too wonderful for sinful, corrupted human nature to discover. But we have, in Christ, the way into God’s presence without fear. Those who enjoy this communion are gloriously united to God through Christ and share in all the glorious and excellent fruits of such communion. The Spirit is inviting each one of us to walk a very different path, to embark on a radically different journey.  We are bidden to come as we are, boldly, without fear -- even though our soul still sometimes seems a cesspool of foul muck with no living waters in sight, abandoning ourselves to God for whatever He chooses to allow, waiting for Him to reveal how near we are to Him already in every circumstance of life, and to then draw us nearer still. This is the way of the Spirit -- Walking in the Spirit -- where the supremacy, majesty and sovereignty of Jesus are the fulcrum on which all else is balanced, and to love Him with the Father’s love is our only desire.  

IN CHRIST:

CONTENTMENT… THANKFULNESS… JOY…

(Phil. 4:11; 1 Tim. 6:6, 8; Heb. 13:5; Eph. 5:20; Jn. 17:26)