After thinking about the National Day of Prayer yesterday I picked up a book I read a while back called "Finding God" by Larry Crabb. It is a heavy book that addresses some deep issues in our walks with God. It is not for the faint of heart or those looking for a "feel good" book. Rather it is an intense look at why we do some of the things we do. We need to understand that our hearts are on a search for a real, passionate, and deep relationship with God yet we often look in the wrong direction and wrong places.
I was moved by a portion of the book I read last night and the irony of what I had been thinking about yesterday and the Kingdom of God and our citizenship in heaven. Dr. Crabb writes:
"We are more committed to making life work now than we are to finding God and living for a later hope. We naturally turn to God only to use him to improve our present lives...All our troublesome passions spring from this core passion to make to make our present lives better: distorted appetites for food or sex, bizarre urges that overwhelm us at the least convenient times, consuming desires to like ourselves better, a frantic determination to succeed personally or professionally, an insistence that spiritual victory translate into a comfortable life that no tragedy or tension can disrupt, a lust for revenge against those who have hurt us. We are passionately determined to make our lives less painful, and we will do whatever it takes to reach this goal in a disappointing, sometimes pleasurable, and maddeningly uncertain world.
To feel a deep, throbbing passion about our well-being in this world is as natural as breathing. And nothing is wrong with that, unless we feel no deeper passion! God has told us to love him with a passion that exceeds all other passions. Until we are chasing after God like a thirsty deer after water, pursuing him with more passion than we pursue a new home, parental approval, or kids who make us proud, this world fits us well. We're conformed to its values. Our citizenship is here.
Citizens of this world live with two objectives: (1) to find some way to make their present lives happier, and (2) to influence the people and materials in their world to cooperate. Beneath their every act of altruism, benevolence, and sacrifice lies the motive of self-service that destroys its moral value.
Christians, however, are citizens of another world; in this one we are strangers, aliens, and pilgrims. Our distinguishing mark is our passion for God. We endure hardship to serve him because we love him and are confident of his promise to bless us. At least that's the plan. But our natural passions keep getting in the way. Although we claim citizenship in heaven, we live like locals."
May God help each of us to not feel so comfortable here on earth that we forget where our real home is. May He remind us of the place we are truly longing for, the place that Jesus promised he was preparing for us. May God help us to live in this world with passion for Him and compassion for others, not looking to this world for hope and ultimate satisfaction, but to enjoy it and serve it for His glory and purpose. Amen.
