READY: Cultivating Desire for God
Want vs Contentment
Pastor Fox started the new year with a strong, important message: The biggest contention point we have as believers and disciples is that we must face the reality of our selfish nature in light of the selfless nature of Christ.
James 1:14-16
Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Want grows desire for self. Contentment grows desire for God.
One challenging part of my life has been contending with my heart over this exact statement. Contentment has not been the most common state of my life. Rather the opposite has been true. My desire to achieve has been the overwhelming motivation for most of my life making it all about me: I want to be thought of well, to be seen as a good Christian, and to not be seen as a failure. However, the Father has taught me that success or failure isn’t dependent upon my performance in the kingdom. In His kingdom, success is dependent upon Christ on the cross, and my choice boils down to something different—contentment in being a son.
Ephesians 4:20-24
But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
About a year and a half ago, my father went to be with the Lord. It was one of the hardest things I’ve faced but also one of the most transformative. I spent much of my life wanting to make my dad proud, but in all my striving I never considered that my dad was already proud of me. He was pleased with me. Now, as a dad, I understand that. My girls are one of the greatest gifts God has given me. I may not always like what they do, but there will never be a moment I won’t be beaming with pride to tell you that they are my girls.
Losing my dad forced me to face that I have spent my life chasing something I already had—his love for me. That is the crux of putting off the old self and being “renewed in the spirit of your minds.” I put off all that makes me strive for love and acceptance, and I put on sonship. Is working hard bad? No. Is wanting to provide for my family bad? No. Those things are admirable and good, but if driven by my want which gives way to the desires for myself, it becomes tainted. Instead of partnering with God to provide, I'll see myself as the provider.
My work is now “as unto the lord” instead of “as unto Adam’s wants and desires.” If I can learn to do it unto Him, which is a desire for Him, that will slowly pour over into all parts of my life. I must start somewhere.
This is my prayer for all of us: That we embrace contentment as sons and daughters and give way to our desires being for God, which bears the fruit in our lives. That we would see the old ways put aside, and our lives be a response to our desire for God instead of from our own selfish desires.
Pastor Fox started the new year with a strong, important message: The biggest contention point we have as believers and disciples is that we must face the reality of our selfish nature in light of the selfless nature of Christ.
James 1:14-16
Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Want grows desire for self. Contentment grows desire for God.
One challenging part of my life has been contending with my heart over this exact statement. Contentment has not been the most common state of my life. Rather the opposite has been true. My desire to achieve has been the overwhelming motivation for most of my life making it all about me: I want to be thought of well, to be seen as a good Christian, and to not be seen as a failure. However, the Father has taught me that success or failure isn’t dependent upon my performance in the kingdom. In His kingdom, success is dependent upon Christ on the cross, and my choice boils down to something different—contentment in being a son.
Ephesians 4:20-24
But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
About a year and a half ago, my father went to be with the Lord. It was one of the hardest things I’ve faced but also one of the most transformative. I spent much of my life wanting to make my dad proud, but in all my striving I never considered that my dad was already proud of me. He was pleased with me. Now, as a dad, I understand that. My girls are one of the greatest gifts God has given me. I may not always like what they do, but there will never be a moment I won’t be beaming with pride to tell you that they are my girls.
Losing my dad forced me to face that I have spent my life chasing something I already had—his love for me. That is the crux of putting off the old self and being “renewed in the spirit of your minds.” I put off all that makes me strive for love and acceptance, and I put on sonship. Is working hard bad? No. Is wanting to provide for my family bad? No. Those things are admirable and good, but if driven by my want which gives way to the desires for myself, it becomes tainted. Instead of partnering with God to provide, I'll see myself as the provider.
My work is now “as unto the lord” instead of “as unto Adam’s wants and desires.” If I can learn to do it unto Him, which is a desire for Him, that will slowly pour over into all parts of my life. I must start somewhere.
This is my prayer for all of us: That we embrace contentment as sons and daughters and give way to our desires being for God, which bears the fruit in our lives. That we would see the old ways put aside, and our lives be a response to our desire for God instead of from our own selfish desires.
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