My heaven is to please God and glorify Him,
and to give all to Him,
and to be wholly devoted to His glory;
that is the heaven I long for.
–David Brainerd
Oh that each of us would long for this as well. To please Him, glorify Him, and give all to Him. What a difference it would make in our own lives, the lives of our family members, the life of our church, and the state of our community, nation, and world.
What do you and I desire most in our lives?
We all have struggles and suffering. However, suffering is not meted out evenhandedly. We must come to terms with our suffering and attempt to answer the question, “Is my God good when my life isn’t?” One phenomenon in a portion of American society though, is that we are trying to eradicate as much suffering as possible. The environmental suffering that many have faced and/or continue to face (persecution for their faith or the lack of the basic necessities of life) has been all but eradicated for the middle and upper middle classes. However, life is supposed to be hard. We will all suffer. Even with eliminating some of the environmental factors, we will suffer – losses of loved ones, failing health, natural disasters, a child with special needs. Instead of concocting schemes to attempt to throw off our crosses, we must learn to take up our cross and still follow Him. We must learn abandon to God and His will. Instead of coveting others’ lives with a deep dissatisfaction with the life I’ve been given, I must abandon myself to the life God has given me and use it to bless Him.
–David Goetz
Life is hard.
But God walks through the hard parts with me holding my hand and guiding me through.
Therefore, my God is good.
Even when my life isn’t.
Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom?
In the cross is salvation,
in the cross is life,
in the cross is protection from enemies,
in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness,
in the cross is strength of mind,
in the cross is joy of spirit,
in the cross is highest virtue,
in the cross is perfect holiness.
There is no salvation of soul nor hope of everlasting life but in the cross.
–Thomas à Kempis
Oh that I would desire to take up my cross and give up my life for Jesus with no fear, knowing how much I will gain by doing so!
In studying a number of servants who radically followed Jesus, Philip Yancey came to this conclusion:
I was prepared to honor and admire these servants, to hold them up as inspiring examples. I was not prepared to envy them. Yet as I now reflect on the two groups side by side, stars and servants, the servants clearly emerge as the favored ones, the graced ones. Without question, I would rather spend time among the servants than among the stars: they possess qualities of depth and richness and even joy that I have not found elsewhere. Servants work for low pay, long hours, and no applause, “wasting” their talents and skills among the poor and uneducated. Somehow, though, in the process of losing their lives they find them.
–Philip Yancey
So often in our own minds, we elevate the stars of this world and wish we could be like them. But when we get down to who we would really want to spend time with, who we would want to be our friend, we realize that it is not the self-promoting stars, but rather the servants who we truly envy.
I pray that God will help me be a servant who finds the truth of discovering the most abundant life possible as I lose my life in serving Him.
Do you ever wonder about such questions as these? Why God designed a system which required daily bloody sacrifices during the Old Testament?
God started the sacrificial system for at least two reasons. First, He desired His people to loathe sin. With the constant stream of bloody sacrifices offered by the priests, people were confronted continually with the seriousness of His holiness and their sin. Every time they sinned, something had to die. Second, the sacrificial system was intended to help people long for a Savior whose sacrifice would be complete and perfect.
The system was elaborate, but it was never intended to be sufficient; instead, it pointed to something much deeper. It was designed to be a tutor to teach people they could never fulfill the law.
–Matt Chandler
But fortunately in God’s plan, He would send One who could!