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miss poppyAnother basic concept of Christianity that many seem to have missed can be expressed as a logical syllogism:
1. Humans desire happiness and pleasure.
2. God's being is the source of all happiness and pleasure.
3. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to pursue God wholeheartedly.
John Piper calls this concept Christian hedonism, and his main statement is, "God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him."
Why is it that we so often attribute undesirable qualities to God, but we also recognize that He commands us to desire Him?
This won't work. Humans are not wired to want someone who harms them or treats them badly. We are wired to desire those who are desirable to us in some way. God made us. It would have been ridiculous for Him to command us to do something that can't be done.
Instead, "We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19
I think I know a lot of people who wish they desired God and feel very guilty because they can't seem to want Him as much as they feel they should. I have done this as well. The truth is, though, that when we have a real encounter with the heartbreakingly attractive Person of God, we cannot help but desire Him. When we are touched by God's love, mercy, beauty, tenderness, justice, comfort, glory, majesty, and intimacy, it becomes inconceivable for us not to desire Him (though our feelings will always wax and wane).
I suppose what I am trying to say is that if an object is desirable to us, we will desire it automatically. If it is not desirable to us, we won't desire it. Desire cannot be manufactured.
When people pray, "God, help me to want You more," I think they often actually mean, "God, I think you're mad at me, and your holiness makes me too scared to approach you. I feel really yucky when I pray to you. However, the Bible says I should love You and want to be with You. If I was more spiritual, maybe I would want You even though You're not nice to be around. Help me to get there so You won't need to smite me."
However, I believe the actual heart of "God, help me to want You more," should be this: "God, I notice that I'm not desiring You. That means I must not be seeing You for who You really are-the most delightful Person I could ever choose to be with in the whole universe. Show me your delightful character so that I will fall more in love with You and my heart will hunger for Your presence."
I also think this issue offers clues to the way God feels about us. If we wonder whether we have value in God's sight, we can easily find an answer in the fact that He desires us. God is a Person, and people simply don't desire that which they find undesirable; that would violate the logical law of noncontradiction. If God wants us, He must see something desirable, something He values, in us.
I am often burdened for those, both saved and unsaved, who have yet to know the incomparable and indescribable experience of God's tangible, loving presence. Knowing Him begets desire because He is the epitome of all that is desirable. It's not enough to have head knowledge of this. Deep beliefs of the heart are what determine whether or not we see God as desirable. If we don't, we can be sure that the root is our flawed concept of a perfectly desirable God, and He longs to replace that faulty image with Himself.
Do you ever feel like you don't really see God for all He is? Or ever feel like He's mad or displeased with you?
Comments (84)
@jgilgour@xanga - Ok, I see what you're saying. Do you think that God has ever completely forgiven you, though? Because if He has, then He has accepted Jesus' sacrifice on your behalf, and He now sees you in an overall light of favor, not disappointment. It's hard to feel that, though. I don't always feel it because of all the mistakes I've made. However, as I recently studied what the Bible says about redemption, I became more and more convinced that it is true. God wipes out our sin once and for all when we trust in Jesus.
@goodnessgraceness@xanga - That is your worldview. You believe everything has a purpose in the same sense a hammer or a screwdriver has a purpose, it was built for a reason. Take away the builder and a screwdriver is meaningless. That is YOUR concept of meaning, not mine. To say that your concept of meaning is the only one and I must think life is meaningless is ignorant and obnoxious.
@monobeam@xanga - This isn't about the world vs jesus.
And yes, the world has an emptiness in it. That is because many thousands of years or so ago our lives were no more meaningful than those of any animal. We have since invented almost all of the beauty in this world.
You, like most people, think religion invented beauty, meaning, morality - but it has mostly stifled it. Christianity ruled most of the world for 2,000 years, 1500 of which are known as the dark ages. When it began losing political and social power, that age is known as the age of enlightenment, and it wasn't long before we sequenced the human genome, went to the moon, and invented countless things to make life richer, easier and more fun, including the computer, internet and fiber-optic cables which allow you to disagree with me and broadcast your ideas at the speed of light.
@agnophilo@xanga - I'm sorry you got that impression. I said that was how "I see" life. My aim was to explain my worldview, not to shove it down your throat. I certainly did not mean to imply that you think life is meaningless; I know you see life as full of meaning. I just like debate, and I like to hear your thoughts and reactions.
@goodnessgraceness@xanga - Sorry if I overreacted, it's just a stereotype we have shoved down our throats all the time. One of the more effective ways churches keep people coming back is by scaring them into thinking if they don't go to church, don't believe in god etc, that they will lose their morality, their sense of purpose and meaning etc. I've known several devout christians who lost faith and every single one said the same thing to me - that they were amazed how little changed because of it - they're the same person, they love life just as much, they care about people just as much, if not moreso because they're doing good for goodness' sake rather than to "please god" or get into heaven. They own their own choices.
Anyway, sorry if I bit your head off.
@agnophilo@xanga - If we are making progress, will future generations experience less and less emptiness? Have our brains gotten larger?... Beauty; I agree with you on the beauty part. There is a philosophical idea that the world is empty and requires us to fill it, by seeing things for example -- if we did not see, would there be color?... if we didn't hear would there be any sound? We are able to bring beauty into the world -- I think of Matisse, Bach, Mozart... Mostly these guys were Christians, and it would take a clever person to convince me they stifled the arts. The converse is true, atheists have to show what they can offer to humanity.
Dark ages... who could coin such a phrase? All Christians should mistrust this term.... You're right in saying that we have done great things, but again, many of those doing the doing were Christian. For a split-second I relish the thought of my ideas moving at the speed of light -- with all the clouds in my head... speed of light, funny.
Regarding the goodnessgraceness response: I'm amazed at how much God has changed me, and to thank Him I do good for His sake (this is identical with doing good for goodness' sake). Christians talk about truth, goodness, and beauty. Until now I assumed atheists declared [in unity] that goodness did not really exist. I am pleasantly surprised.
Everything is tested by its opposite. We Christians at revelife might better understand who we are thru these talks. God Bless.
@monobeam@xanga - Why would you think that atheist declared uniformly that goodness doesn't exist? Especially since atheists are individuals with ideas and beliefs of their own.
@agnophilo@xanga - Goodness has a source, and it is God.
@monobeam@xanga - Actually goodness is invoked by the human condition. It is bad to jam a needle into your arm because your nerve endings send pain impulses to your brain. It could just as easily be the other way around and jabbing a pin into your arm made you feel happy, in which case morality would be different.
God doesn't enter into it.