What's Your Aim?

Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned…I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them.” 

1 Samuel 15:34

Joanna clattered down the stairs and stopped at her mother’s shocked expression. “What?” she said a bit too loudly, slapping at a long strand of dyed-black hair. A long moment passed before her mother spoke. “I’m concerned about you,” she said. “You’re changing. You’ve stopped going to church…your head is half shaved…lots of new piercings…and, is that a skull tattoo?” Joanna rolled her black-rimmed eyes. “Mo-om, I’ve told you about my new friends. I’m trying to influence them and this is how we…I mean, they, do things.” Her mother slipped an arm around Joanna’s shoulders. “Honey, if you’re changing who you are for someone else, then it is not you who is influencing them. They are influencing you.”

Like Joanna, we fool ourselves. We all have an inborn desire for the approval of other people. That isn’t wrong until we start believing that our worth is based upon what others think of us. Then we are no longer serving Christ. Popularity should never be the goal in our desire to influence because popularity strives for the approval of other people; influence strives for the approval of God. Galatians 1:10 says, “Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” We cannot serve both God and popularity because those paths will part at some point. When our commitment is to Christ and His word, the world’s changing whims won’t unseat us.

Are you seeking to be a good influence or seeking to be popular? 

You have to choose one or the other.

.

Ulterior Motives

The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this (miraculous) sign. John 12:18

.

“Have you seen that new Rabbi?” Jacob asked. “I heard He turned one kid’s lunch into a feast.” Isaac nodded. “I actually saw Him heal that blind guy.” Not to be outdone, Levi called out, “Oh yeah, well I heard He raised a guy from the dead!” The three friends shouldered their knapsacks and broke into a run. “Let’s go see what else He might do!” Jacob cried, joining the crowds headed toward the Jesus Parade. “That’s the kind of leader I want! He could make us rich and famous!”

. 

The throngs gathering about Jesus that day came for a multitude of reasons, most of them misguided. They loved the miracles. People were still talking about the free food, and no one could get over blind Bartimaeus now reading the Torah for himself. We can easily see the wrong motives of the crowd that day, but what about our motives now? “I’ll give my life to Jesus if it will save my marriage,” says Stan. “I got saved in ’92, but my business went belly-up,” grumbles Rob. “Guess it didn’t do me any good.” 

.

When we learn about the supernatural, miraculous things that God does, we get excited about what God might do for us. We start to treat the sacrifice of Jesus as merely the secret code into God’s Goodie Basket. Are we really much different from the crowd that day? It’s no wonder He wasn’t impressed by their praises. He’s not always impressed with ours either.

.

What Time I Am Afraid

When I am afraid, I will trust in You. Psalm 56:3

From the stock market to ISIS to Donald and Hillary, this world provides thousands of opportunities for us to be afraid. And the internet provides thousands of opportunities to express that fear in destructive ways. Fear and hopelessness are fast becoming our nation’s gross national product. But fear is nothing new to humanity; we’ve just found faster ways to pump it into our brains. If you were asked to rewrite this verse from your own experience, how would you end it? “When I am afraid, I will _______.”

The Hebrew word translated “trust” means to be boldly confident. The same word in Arabic can mean “to throw oneself face down,” which is a good mental image of trusting God. In order to throw ourselves face down before God, we must be boldly confident of His character and of our relationship with Him. We are more likely to seek God in our fear when we have also sought Him in our joy. If we seek Him when the sun is shining, we are more confident to seek Him when the tornado threatens. But sometimes what we call “seeking God” really means “seeking a better version of myself.” Bold confidence cannot be based upon what we think God should do, because we will often be disappointed. Seeking God in every season means that we are positioning ourselves to be in agreement with the outcome He chooses, knowing that it is for our good.

How do you respond to fear? Are you positioning yourself to be in agreement with the outcomes He chooses?

.

Bullying God

“…Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you…”  Nehemiah 1:11

“Daddy, I need new shoes. Look at these.” Five-year-old Macy held out one foot where a ragged tennis shoe dangled by one lace. Her father, Dan, smiled at her. “You’re right. We’ll go tomorrow, soon as I get my paycheck.” Someone banged on the front door, and when Dan opened it, twelve neighborhood kids glared at him from the porch. He recognized a couple of bullies who had terrorized his daughter and others who painted graffiti on his garage. “Hey, dude,” one bully shouted. “We heard you give out shoes. We’re here for ours, so hand ‘em over!” Dan shook his head. “I’d like to, but I can’t. You’re not my children.”

Some people treat God the way those neighbor kids treated Dan. They have no interest in loving and obeying the Lord, they merely want His blessings. They ignore His commands, but “claim” His promises. When they find themselves in a tough place, they demand that God rescue them. And sometimes He does, because He’s good. But He is not obligated to, because they are not His. Nehemiah could come with confidence before the Lord because He understood that God listens to His own children who delight in honoring Him. When we seek the Lord, we must do it His way. He knows His own children and is not fooled by those who pretend spirituality only when they need something. He delights in those who delight in Him.

Are you seeking God as a neighborhood kid, or do you delight in honoring Him?

.

Yes or No

…And the LORD told him, "Yes, go after them. You will recover everything…" 1 Samuel 30:8

We LOVE those kinds of answers! “Lord, should we buy that house we want?” YES! “Lord, will I get a promotion at work?” YES! “Lord, will I be cured of cancer?” YES!  God is a Father, and He loves to say “YES!” when our requests are within His plan. But   when we assume that “YES! is His only answer, we ignore the “No’s.” We don’t like “No’s,” so we decide they cannot be from God and we plunge ahead with our plans anyway. That view of God is flawed, because we are treating Him as a divine slot machine—plug in a couple of prayers and get ready for the jackpot of our choosing.

 God is not a genie or a slot machine. He is Almighty God. He can do anything He wants, and He wants us to seek Him for Himself. He loves to say “YES,” but sometimes His plan requires the word “No.” “Lord, should we buy that house we want?” “No, I have a better one for you.” “Lord, will I get a promotion at work?” “No, the company will lay off everyone in that department in six months.” “Lord, will I be cured of cancer?” “No, I’m ready for you to come home, and four people will be saved because of it.” Seeking God’s answers means we are open to either a Yes or a No from Him. Seeking God means we want to know His heart, not use Him as a rubber stamp for our ideas. David and his men were victorious when they chased after the raiders because God had said “Yes.” But if God had said, “No,” it would have meant that He had a better plan.

When you seek the Lord, are you prepared to work in harmony with His answer?

Should I?

Then David asked the LORD, "Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?..." 1 Samuel 30:8

A new job. A new house. A new spouse. Should I? Should we? How can I? Questions pelt our minds 24/7 like shot from a pepper gun. We poll the audience, phone a friend, and often charge recklessly into a decision because it looks good on the surface. Or, we freeze in place and never progress an inch from where we started. Neither is how God designed us to live. He offers a better way. He instructs us throughout His word to call upon Him about everything (Ps. 50:15). Everything? Even family problems? Job frustrations? Loneliness? Depression? Yes, every-thing because He is that involved with our lives (Psalm 139).

When David had a big decision to make, He first asked the Lord about it. The wives and children of his soldiers had been kidnapped, and the grieving men blamed him for it. Instead of retaliating in rage, or taking off on his own, David first sought the Lord. The solution to their dilemma seemed obvious, but even then, David’s habit was to ask the Lord. Because he had made it his custom to seek God and wait for His answer, it was natural for him to go there first. When our passions run high, anger burns fierce, and revenge boils in our veins, we want to take matters into our own hands. We think the solution is obvious, while forgetting that we cannot see around corners or over mountains like God can. When we seek the Lord’s counsel on every decision, we can live in confidence that we are on His side.

Final Thought:  Have you developed David’s habit of seeking the Lord in every decision?

Running Out of Time

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6

“I’ll get my life straight when I’m old,” Juan boasted. “I’ve got plenty of livin’ to do before then!”

“I know I should get right with God,” Emilie confessed. “But that means I’d have to change some things, and I’m not ready.”

“Yeah, I’ll get serious about spiritual things one day,” said Pat. “But I’m so busy right now at work, I just don’t have time.”

These people are all making a huge and costly assumption. They are assuming that God will work within their timetables and that when they have decided they are ready for Him, He will come running. But the Bible tells us that the opposite happens. Jesus said that no one can come to Him unless the Father first draws him (John 6:44). He means that our hearts have no desire to repent, to change, or to know God unless the Holy Spirit has first prepared us. So God commands us to seek Him while we can, because that option may not always be available. To seek Him means we first acknowledge that He exists. Second, we agree that He is who His word says He is and that we need Him. Then we ask Him to reveal truth to our hearts and we act upon whatever truth we have been given. We seek God when a hunger has begun gnawing within our souls for something that this world cannot offer. That hunger was placed there by God Himself to cause us to seek Him. And because His character is so vast, we can seek Him all our lives and never come to the end of all He is and all He wants to reveal to us.

Are you seeking the Lord while He may be found?

On One Condition

"Hey, Dad. I'm going out for the football team this fall," Jak announced one evening.

"Sounds great, son. When are tryouts?"

"In a couple of weeks."

"What are you doing to get ready?"

Jak laughed. "Oh, I plan to jog around the block a few times. Lift a couple of weights. But hey, I'm a natural athlete. When the coach sees what I can do, he'll beg me to be on his team!"

Days passed and Dad saw no sign of Jak working out, training, or doing anything differently than he'd always done.

"Son, don't you think you need to put some effort into this thing?" Dad asked one day. "I thought you really wanted this."

"I do! I'm crazy for football. Can't wait." Jak flipped off the TV and rolled to his feet with a sigh. "Okay, if it'll make you happy, I'll jog around my room a few times. That should do it. Guy of my talent shows up, that coach'll probably make me the quarterback the first day."

Do you think Jak has a dose of reality coming? Why?

We can easily see how ridiculous Jak's reasoning is when it comes to physical effort, 
but what about spiritual effort?

In the book of Jeremiah, God tells us: "You will seek me and you will find me...when you seek me with all your heart."

We often approach God with the same attitude with which Jak approached football. "When God sees me coming, He's gonna be so excited He can't stand it! A prayer here and there, extra money in the offering sometimes, God's lucky to have me on His team."

We forget God's little condition: We have to seek Him with all our hearts or we'll never find Him. Neither the coach nor God has any use for those who approach with the attitude that they are doing a favor by showing up.

It is God who initiates the desire to seek Him. It is God who has provided the way by which we can come to Him, but He is not interested in being Santa Claus or your personal genie.

He wants us to love Him, to want a loving relationship with Him, to seek Him for Himself, and not just what we think He can do for us.

Think about your last attempt at communication with God. 

Did you sound a little like Jak?

.

Are you Seeking?

One of my favorite songs says, "The more I seek you, the more I find you. The more I find you, the more I love you."

The greatest commandment instructs us to love the Lord our God with everything we've got. But have you ever noticed how hard it is to really love someone just because you're told to? You can pretend, but your heart knows the difference.

Remember when you were a kid and you had a fight with your brother? Your mom probably forced you to "make up," which consisted of you having to say something you did not mean at the moment. Your lips were saying, "I love you," but your heart was still screaming at him.

You wouldn't admit this on penalty of death, but do you sometimes worry that maybe you don't really love God like you're supposed to? You try to make up for it with a frenzy of churchy activities, good works, and lots of gushy spiritual-sounding talk that you hope conveys the opposite of what's really going on in your heart.

Regardless of what you look like on the outside, inside you're in turmoil. After all, how can you express utter devotion to a God who would let you hurt so badly? A God who could have, but didn't, stop that drunk driver, curb your child's race to destruction, reverse the ravages of cancer. You feel abandoned, discarded, and terribly confused about this God to Whom you're supposed to offer such passion.

But how can you admit something like that? It sounds so unChristian. Isn't love for God supposed to just BE there when you accept Christ as your Lord? After all, you do believe what the Bible says and you know you're supposed to be delighted that God loves you. But something feels off. God seems so far away.

The reason he feels far away is because he IS far away.

His presence is not like loose change that can be easily gathered off the sidewalk. A slot machine we can plug with prayers until we get what we want.

And we don't like that. We expect everything to be easy. We're used to it and become a bit miffed when some fruit we want isn't there for the picking.

But the secret to falling in love with God is found in that little verse in Jeremiah: "You will seek me and you will find me, when you seek with all your heart." If you're honest with yourself, are you really seeking God or seeking what he can do for you?

.

We are a society of action. We equate spiritual busyness with loving God. After all, if I'm DOING all this good stuff, isn't that showing God that I love him? I go to church--maybe I'm even the pastor! I read my Bible, lead study groups, homeschool my kids, teach Sunday School...

.

Notice how when we talk about loving God our thoughts go straight to our works?

.

None of that is wrong, just don't let it substitute for a deep heart relationship with God, which is what he wants from us. If he didn't, the verse would read: "You shall work for the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength."

.

So what does seeking God look like? How do you seek God if it doesn't involve service?

.

I believe it starts with giving up. When you recite your wedding vows, you voluntarily give up your identity as a single person. You turn over your life, your dreams, your passions to another.

.

You seek God the same way. You have to let go of your right to understand--and for us often over-educated human beings, that can be tough. We feel an obligation to understand God, to be able to explain him to others, to find the reasons behind the inexplicable happenings of life. None of that is Scriptural. All we're commanded to do is to love him.

.

When we hang on to our need to understand why, we limit our capacity to embrace all of God. We hold him responsible for the things we don't like, and that holding-on stifles our love for him. Seeking becomes a frustrating wade through the muck of Scripture, none of which seems to apply to our particular situation. We finally stop trying and figure God is destined to remain a distant icon to whom we owe our grudging allegiance.

.

Giving up means you let go of the right to understand, the right to refuse what you don't like, and the right to be God's judge. You have to let him be God again. And in that moment, seeking begins.

.

It helps to remember that God does not want to remain far away from your aching heart. He's watching for you with the light on.

.

And what's more, he even provides the love that you are incapable of giving on your own. With every syllable of worship that falls from your lips, your love for God grows. With every act of contrition, every lifting of stubborn hands, every bowing of your knee and your will to His, love grows.

.

Do you truly love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might? Don't lie to yourself. Or God. He's not fooled a bit by your busyness or your theology degree. He's waiting for your heart to come to his. For you to dance at his feet, to bask in his nearness.

Loving God starts with seeking.

.

How Often?

Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily.

• So how often do I need to offer myself to God?

• How often should I ask God to search my heart?

• How often should I...?

Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily.Daily.

I am surprised at the number of times I am asked these kinds of questions. One major reason so many professing followers of Christ live in such defeat--never experiencing the power and joy God longs to give them--is that they are surviving on leftovers and hand-me-downs:

Leftover commitment.
Leftover dedication.
Leftover victories.

Hand-me down inspiration.
Hand-me-down values.
Hand-me-down insight.

If the Apostle Paul said he had to "die daily,"(I Corinthians 15:31) then how much more do we regular believers need to stay current in our relationship with God?

Just as dangerous is the current tendency to rely on books by others who have experienced God, rather than enter into that experience yourself. There are thousands of great books out there, but none can take the place of the living Word of God to speak to your heart, convict you of sin, and draw you closer to Him.

Would a marriage last if the partners only affirmed each other once a season? Would you be able to fully commit yourself to someone you'd only heard about through the grapevine? Could your body remain healthy if you only ate once or twice a week?

A friendship with only sporadic interaction is at best casual. Heart friends are cultivated by spending a lot of quality time together, going through things together, encouraging each other, and remaining faithful to the relationship. And God longs to be your heart friend.

There is no substitute for a daily re-commitment of yourself to God. If His "mercies are new every morning,"(Lamentations 3:23) that must mean we need them every morning.

We can't lay our fleshly desires on the altar before God and forget about them. They'll jump off! That commitment you made to Christ last spring has to be freshened every day, or it grows stale and your love grows cold.

So what's the secret to keeping your relationship with God the most vital thing in your life?

A daily offering of yourself to Him. Daily allowing His Spirit to search your heart for problem areas and getting rid of them. Maybe it wasn't a problem yesterday, but today is a new day. Don't let it get started.

How often do I seek God?

Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily. Daily.