Looking Forward To

It's Christmas time again. Everyone has their heart set on at least one food, activity, or person they can't wait to enjoy time with. As humans, we're “professional wanters” - there is always something we want and often look forward too. For most of us it's a daily thing and we use it as some kind of crutch to cope with things.

Our flesh has desires.

Not only are we waiting to satisfy ourselves with some big goal (vacation, new house, marriage, etc…), but we also fill our desires with little things constantly. Wanting to get home from work to watch football or to go eat Italian for lunch (There is a reason we have the term “comfort food”). A huge one is the hundreds of little breaks we take to check our phone.

If we face/accomplish hard things, we often pick something we like as “a reward”. We have “me time” to go and indulging in so we have “strength” to do more hard stuff.

Have you ever considered that Jesus didn't do this?

Jesus never set his heart on acquiring or enjoying the pleasures of this life. Jesus came from his eternal place, close with His Father, down to shallow, dirty earth to face a hard life only out of love. Nothing would satisfy him other than God.

Scripture talks about believers who have “tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come” (Hebrews 6), how much more for God's own eternal Word who has done more than “taste” these things?

Is there anything on earth that could satisfy those longings?

I cannot imagine forsaking every comfort my flesh finds in life, as Jesus did. However, this is what we are called to (1 Corinthians 7:31) and can only achieve when, as God says, we really “understand and know me” (Jeremiah 9:24). Not just know the bible, but know and desire God himself as Jesus demonstrated.

Jesus’ refuge and reward was God himself. He desired and required time alone with God.

The bible says where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If you want to love God you have to know him. If you want to know him you have to spend time with him.

It's really pretty simple. Spend your time on the things you want to love and you certainly grow in love for them.