Do you find yourself overwhelmed at times with what you believe the requirements are to be a good Christian? I’m not talking about abstaining from sin. I am talking about that list of spiritual disciplines ( prayer, bible study,etc…) we all have in our heads of what we believe God expects us “to-do” to seek Him and love Him and serve Him.
For me the thought process goes something like this: I know that I am called to seek God with all my heart. He tells me that if I will seek Him and Him alone, all other things in my life will fall into place. I will experience joy and peace and contentment if I will place all else below the pursuit of Him. I am not disputing this truth. I wholeheartedly believe this to be true.
But the next question that follows for me, and possibly you too, is this: What does it “look like” to seek God with all of our heart? What does it look like to love Him with all of our heart and soul and strength? We want to visualize what this life looks like so that we can duplicate it. And here is where the overwhelming and never ending list of requirements comes in. When I visualize what it would look like to seek Him with all my heart, here is a brief sample of the list of improvements I need to make….
- I need to study His word more
- Pray for others needs more
- Worship Him more
- I should be fasting more—this has always been a hallmark discipline of the spiritually elite!
- Serve others with my gifting on a consistent basis
- Go to church more consistently
- Family Devotional time more frequently
- Pray with my spouse more
- Pray with my kids more
- Spend more time teaching my kids the word!
- Meditate and Reflect on His word more—this is different than STUDYING His word
- Read more “Spiritual Books”
- Etc…
Now I could go on and on but the bottom line is this. The list of spiritual disciplines is too overwhelming for me. I simply can’t do it all. God, is this what you require of a Christian? The list overwhelms me. And here is the word that came to mind and that I share with you today:
“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. (1John5:3)
There it is! Our God does not BURDEN us with requirements. If we find ourselves overwhelmed and burdened by what we think God requires, we must be doing something wrong! This only makes sense since the whole point of Jesus coming was to abolish the list of commandments that we were not able to keep. Now we find ourselves coming up with our own list again! This certainly doesn’t make sense. Here is the conclusion I have come to: Seeking Him with all my heart is not about what I do! It’s about a position of my heart. I’m not saying that it doesn’t involve things we do. It does. It most certainly involves many of the things on the list above. I’m saying that’s not our focus. That’s not where we start.
The starting point is the condition of our heart. It’s about needing Him! We naturally seek that which we need! I naturally love that which I cherish. When we are desperate and needy for something, we are consumed with the thought of the object we are trying to attain. We are not thinking about the burdens of the process of attaining it. It is not necessary for me to add the act of “Eating breakfast” to my “to-do” list every day. Nor am I overwhelmed with the thought of preparing the meal. I wake up hungry and instinctively prepare the meal and eat. Why? BECAUSE I’M HUNGRY. I AM IN NEED OF FOOD!
And that is why the commandments are not burdensome! When we are in need of Him, we crave His voice. We run to His Word. We are eager and anxious to spend time with Him. When we love and cherish Him, we naturally teach our kids about Him each and every moment, even if it’s not scheduled “devotional” time. When our hearts are right, the list of requirements fades away. Consider the words of King David…
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God” (Psalm 42:1)
David’s heart was needy! His soul was thirsty! Jesus reiterates this theme during His Sermon on the Mount….
“Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven….Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied”
As I reflect on the beginning of my salvation, I realize I was in a position of neediness. I came to God because I needed Him. Life wasn’t working my way. Furthermore, the seasons I have felt the closest to God since receiving salvation have always been seasons that were marked with a need for Him. I was poor in Spirit and He comforted me with His presence.
We must stop focusing on the list and focus on Him! The prayer of our lives should be this: “MAKE ME NEEDY! MAKE ME DESPERATE FOR YOU! REVEAL YOUR BEAUTY TO ME SO THAT I WILL CHERISH YOU MORE”
What are your thoughts on this? How do we remain in a position of spiritual “neediness” in our lives?
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