Is It Selfish? (Hunger for Heaven - Part 4/4)
(This is the fourth post in a series called "Hunger for Heaven" on longing for God. Check out the other parts here - What does it look like? How to cultivate? Hope for the future)
I asked a question at the end of the last post - is it selfish to long for rewards, joy and peace, heavenly treasures, and blessings from God? Sure, we want to long for God and eternity with Him, but what about that other stuff? My Dad asked me this question when I was first going through this study, and I'll admit, my stare was pretty blank.
Me: "Uh...no?"
Dad: "Really?" {grin}
Me: "I...don't know."
Dad had recently been going through a book called "Desiring God" by John Piper, and apparently, Piper had just been talking about this very question. So the following insights and examples will mainly be from the minds of John Piper and Mark Faggion. :)
Looking back at Psalm 119, which we discussed in the first part of this series, there are dozens of references about finding peace, pleasure, and satisfaction. But the key is that true satisfaction is only found in God.
There is a Evangelical trend, which I know I've fallen under at times, that our relationship with God is purely about duty to Him as our Father and Savior. We owe Him everything, so we shouldn't be motivated in getting anything in return...right? But He is also our Lover, and made us to worship Him with our minds and our hearts.
As humans, we all desire good things. But Piper argues that the Bible never tells us to serve God just for duty's sake - that the good thing we're to be seeking IS God! Yet what do we so often turn to?
"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." ~ C.S. Lewis, "The Weight of Glory", emphasis added.
The crux of what Lewis is saying here is that our pleasures aren't too strong (or our longing for them), but that we're too easily satisfied with the weak things! So I think there is a deeper question here - is God your treasure? Or is He just someone you obey because it's your duty?
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” ~ Matthew 13:44
That doesn't sound like duty to me. :) NOTE - we have to make an important distinction here. Our thoughts should not be focused on merely pursuing joy, as in looking to get something from God, but we should pursue God himself because He is the source of joy!
If this is still confusing, let me share an example of what this might look like - one that really turned the lightbulb on for me when I heard it.
Say a husband comes home to his wife after a long day of work. Even though he's tired, he goes up to
his wife and says, "Honey, it's my duty as a husband to love you, and therefore I want to take you on a date tonight." Oooooh, boy, would that guy get the smack of his life, yes? And if they still went on the date, the husband would probably get some "good feelings", but his motivation is primarily his duty.
A good husband would be motivated to take his wife on a date just because he thoroughly enjoys being with her! And that's not being selfish! Of course, it could be selfish if he's just looking to "get some". But God designed marriage so that couples find joy in being one, in blessing and giving to each other, and in functioning the way He made couples to function.
In the same way, our joy in God should be in being with Him, honoring Him, and functioning in the way we are supposed to as His Children, NOT just because we're "doing our duty", as if God needs our worship. And Piper (and I) would argue that if a person has no joy in their relationship with God, only this sense of duty and "doing the right thing" because that's what they're supposed to do - then they don't really know Him.
So to answer the original question - I believe we should long for joy and expect it when we come into God's presence, that it's not selfish to long for His blessings. But here's the key - are we longing for the blessing itself (just to "get some" from God), or are we longing to be one with God, thoroughly enjoying being in His presence?
~~~
Well, that pretty much wraps up this study! Sorry it took so long to get the whole thing out! :P I hope that you've been encouraged by what God put on my heart to share, and that you will be inspired to do your own studies on joy, longing, and finding satisfaction in God.
Love in Christ,
Ellie
I asked a question at the end of the last post - is it selfish to long for rewards, joy and peace, heavenly treasures, and blessings from God? Sure, we want to long for God and eternity with Him, but what about that other stuff? My Dad asked me this question when I was first going through this study, and I'll admit, my stare was pretty blank.
Me: "Uh...no?"
Dad: "Really?" {grin}
Me: "I...don't know."
Dad had recently been going through a book called "Desiring God" by John Piper, and apparently, Piper had just been talking about this very question. So the following insights and examples will mainly be from the minds of John Piper and Mark Faggion. :)
 |
| I don't know about you, but this tends to me my idea of perfect satisfaction :) |
There is a Evangelical trend, which I know I've fallen under at times, that our relationship with God is purely about duty to Him as our Father and Savior. We owe Him everything, so we shouldn't be motivated in getting anything in return...right? But He is also our Lover, and made us to worship Him with our minds and our hearts.
As humans, we all desire good things. But Piper argues that the Bible never tells us to serve God just for duty's sake - that the good thing we're to be seeking IS God! Yet what do we so often turn to?
"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." ~ C.S. Lewis, "The Weight of Glory", emphasis added.
The crux of what Lewis is saying here is that our pleasures aren't too strong (or our longing for them), but that we're too easily satisfied with the weak things! So I think there is a deeper question here - is God your treasure? Or is He just someone you obey because it's your duty?"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” ~ Matthew 13:44
That doesn't sound like duty to me. :) NOTE - we have to make an important distinction here. Our thoughts should not be focused on merely pursuing joy, as in looking to get something from God, but we should pursue God himself because He is the source of joy!
If this is still confusing, let me share an example of what this might look like - one that really turned the lightbulb on for me when I heard it.
Say a husband comes home to his wife after a long day of work. Even though he's tired, he goes up to
his wife and says, "Honey, it's my duty as a husband to love you, and therefore I want to take you on a date tonight." Oooooh, boy, would that guy get the smack of his life, yes? And if they still went on the date, the husband would probably get some "good feelings", but his motivation is primarily his duty.
In the same way, our joy in God should be in being with Him, honoring Him, and functioning in the way we are supposed to as His Children, NOT just because we're "doing our duty", as if God needs our worship. And Piper (and I) would argue that if a person has no joy in their relationship with God, only this sense of duty and "doing the right thing" because that's what they're supposed to do - then they don't really know Him.
So to answer the original question - I believe we should long for joy and expect it when we come into God's presence, that it's not selfish to long for His blessings. But here's the key - are we longing for the blessing itself (just to "get some" from God), or are we longing to be one with God, thoroughly enjoying being in His presence?
~~~
Well, that pretty much wraps up this study! Sorry it took so long to get the whole thing out! :P I hope that you've been encouraged by what God put on my heart to share, and that you will be inspired to do your own studies on joy, longing, and finding satisfaction in God.
Love in Christ,
Ellie
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