By Duane
Cottrell
July
2004
What's
the difference between pursuing God and pursuing a better life? Are we set
apart from non-believers by our life goals, or only by the fact that we ask God
to help us achieve them?
I am
convinced that we live in a culture that forces us to make God a "spare
time" activity rather than our primary purpose in life. The three basic
goals of American life are: get an education, get a job, and have a family. The
majority of people's energy is spent pursuing those three things, and
Christians are no exception. It is only after those three goals are in focus
that we direct our resources toward pursuing God (those who are not Christians
do the same thing, but instead of trying to become a better Christian they try
to become a better fly-fisherman). But it is difficult to arrange your life
around God and His Kingdom when you have already made major choices concerning
your education, career, and family. Even when we begin our spiritual journey at
a young age we are taught that only a few receive a calling from God regarding
a career, and if we are not one of the "called" then we are free to
choose any career we like, as long as we continue to pursue spiritual growth.
No one tells us we will someday reach a point at which we can no longer grow
spiritually unless we give God our whole lives.
The
problem seems to be that we are not taught to see life through the eyes of
God's Kingdom. God's Kingdom encompasses everything that is under His rule and
reign, including here on Earth (as in, "Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is
in heaven."). That means that those of us who profess Jesus as Lord live
within His Kingdom, and therefore must view all things from that perspective.
Jesus' prayer from Matthew 6 gives us a glimpse of the purpose of God's
Kingdom-to come. How does God's kingdom come? It grows. Those who are not in it
are invited to come in. Those who are in it are fed, clothed, comforted and
healed. Love conquers hate, good conquers evil, and Jesus Christ is praised by
everyone everywhere. So as participating members of the Kingdom of God, you and
I have a specific role to fulfill in achieving this purpose.
What
most of us have never realized is the size of our role-it literally must
consume our life and become the reason we exist. It cannot simply be a
spare-time activity done after we get home from our "real job." God's
one and only concern is that his kingdom work gets done. Jesus said that his
father was always at work, and his job was to do the work of his father. Jesus
also said that his "food" was to do the will of God. And God wants
his only concern to be ours, too. It's clear that we are to emulate Jesus in
his pursuit of God's work. Jesus said, "Do not worry about what you will
eat or drink, but seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things (food, clothing,
shelter, etc.) will be given to you." We have to take seriously everything
He said, including, "sell all your possessions and give the money to the
poor, then you can follow me," "he who seeks to save his life will
lose it, but he who seeks to lose his life for my sake will find it,"
"deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me," and, "anyone
who does not hate his mother and father and brothers and sisters cannot be my
disciple." These are powerful
instructions that cannot possibly be carried out in just a few hours a week.
Jesus is staking a claim on your whole life, and most of us have not handed it
over.
Perhaps
we need to learn to start asking God the simple question, "how can my life
help your Kingdom come?" If our career and life's purpose do not
specifically and directly impact God's Kingdom, then we need to rearrange
everything. Instead of asking God to do things for us and work in our lives to
answer our requests, we should be asking God to simply speak, and we should
simply listen. In listening, we may hear God calling us to do our part
How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking
done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act
of "accepting" Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in
the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation
of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which
insists that if we have found Him, we need no more seek Him...
In the midst of this great chill there are some, I rejoice
to acknowledge, who will not be content with shallow logic. They will admit the
force of the argument, and then turn away with tears to hunt some lonely place
and pray, "O God, show me Thy Glory." They want to taste, to touch
with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the wonder that is God.
- A.W. Tozer, "The Pursuit of God"
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