"I'm playing with this right now. It's MY turn!"
Me, me, me, me, me...
None of us teach our children to be selfish, at least not intentionally.
We don't go around telling them to grab toys from their siblings or playmates, insisting that they get to have the truck or doll first and only when they are done or become distracted by some other long-lost item rediscovered at the bottom of the toy box somehow that day that then, and only then, can their brother or sister or little neighbor girl have a turn.
We don't sit our children down and explain the importance of being first in line or the necessity of having the biggest piece of cake or the way choosing between playing "princess" or "house" or "doctor" on Wednesday afternoon will forever altar their future. We don't do that because it's ridiculous. Absolutely absurd.
Why then do our children seem to learn the art of being selfish so easily? How is it that they have this craft fine tuned before they can even walk? Why is "ME" one of the first words so many children learn to say?
While we as parents might not go around ripping toys from each other's hands or pushing and shoving to be first in line or insisting we get to choose what game we're going to play or arguing over who gets the biggest piece of cake, we can't deny that we do act selfishly from time to time. And if we're honest, we probably act more like our young children than we care to admit. We just do it in a more sophisticated, mature, grown-up way.
I think this tendency for us as humans to navigate towards selfishness, often without any intention of doing so, is one of the main reasons I struggled with the concept of God WANTING to bless me. I wrongly associated the idea of being blessed with the idea of being a spoiled little brat. I was picturing parents who give their children every thing they want and putting God into the same box. I thought if He were to bless me, I would somehow become that little girl clutching her dolls to her chest and shouting "MINE" anytime someone even thought about looking at her precious toys. I let culture dictate my view of God, and that was a grave, grave mistake. In so doing I was missing out on all that God has for me. I wasn't letting Him be the Heavenly Father He so LONGS to be. In my attempt to be "humble," I actually became quite proud. And selfish, the very thing I was trying to avoid in the first place...
As I tried to make sense of what it truly means for God to bless someone and why He's so adamant about pouring out His blessings on His children, I began to realize that His definition of prosperity is far different from what the world portrays as successful. I had to shift my mindset if I was going to understand not only HOW God wants to bless me and YOU, but also WHY He blesses us. To do this, I had to turn my gaze to Scripture instead of looking at billboards or magazines. I had to stop listening to what people all around me were saying (because they were all saying slightly different things anyway and it was quite confusing) and start listening to what God Himself has to say on the topic. Through this process, I have come to realize that God's blessings are FAR better than anything the world has to offer. Furthermore, I am beginning to recognize that in blessing me, God has a much bigger purpose in mind. Remember, we are MADE FOR MORE. As recipients of God's blessings we were never intended to keep His precious promises or extraordinary treasures to ourselves. Everything He gives us is meant to be shared, passed on, and multiplied in some way or another. Simply put, we are BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING.
I invite you to join me on this journey God is taking me through His Word. As we search the Scriptures together, may we change the way we think, and thus the way we live...
First, let's take a closer look at HOW God wants to bless us.
I want to be very clear that His blessings, His gifts are not necessarily in the form of things. As I said before, He's not a genie in a bottle who grants our every wish. Just because we want a new house or car or boat or jet ski or new clothes or furniture or whatever else we may think we need to keep up with the Jones, God doesn't give us all those things. Now, He might give us all those things, or some of them, or none of them. Regardless of what He gives us or how much He gives us, He still blesses us. Abundantly. Lavishly. But let's remember that His ultimate blessing is in the form of His presence with us.
Psalm 37 speaks of God granting us our heart's desire, but first and foremost we must recognize that we will find true satisfaction and purpose and lasting joy and peace in God alone. As we delight in HIM, that's when we experience His blessings to the max!
"Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart's desires."
"Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act."
God's ultimate gift to us is one of a personal relationship with Him. The Creator and Sustainer of the universe invites us to be His friend, to be His child. He calls out to us to come and spend time with Him, to sit at His feet, to climb up on His lap, to allow Him to hold us with His strong, loving arms, to lean into His warm embrace, to be still, to rest.
We see Jesus extend this invitation multiple times in Scripture:
Matthew 11:28, "Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
John 6:35, "Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
John 7:37-38, "37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds,“Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”
In each instance, Jesus is offering anyone who will come to Him much more than the world has to offer. He is offering them more than a break from their labor. He is offering them true rest - peace in Him. He is wanting to give them more than something to eat and drink. He longs to give them something to truly satisfy their desires for all time - a relationship with Him. He is extending the offer to spend eternity with Him, here on earth and then forever in heaven.
Despite growing up in a Christian home and knowing from a young age that Jesus loved me and had a special plan for my life, I forgot that my relationship with Him was more important than anything else. In high school my dream was to play volleyball at the collegiate level. My senior year, I made a trip to Chicago and visited Moody Bible Institute, where I would be attending college that fall. I tried out and made the team! I was elated and looked forward with much anticipation to wearing a uniform and stepping out onto the court in just a few short months. Well, quite a bit can happen between April and August, as I soon found out that May. Not only did I play volleyball but also basketball and track, and to say I was rough on my body was probably an understatement. My knees didn't seem to appreciate the constant pounding I gave them, but I pushed through whatever pain I had, thinking I was young and experiencing "growing pains." I should have known better, coming from a short family and the reality of growing any taller than I already was at 5' 3" was not likely. One afternoon during track practice, days before the big state competition (which I had finally qualified for, for the first time in all my high school years), I landed on the pole vault mat and felt my leg lock. I couldn't bend my knee, no matter how hard I tried. I went to the doctor, fulling expecting him to pull on my leg and magically make it all better. I was gravely disappointed when he informed me I had torn cartilage in my knee and would need surgery. Furthermore, a MRI on my other knee revealed that my cartilage was deteriorating and hanging on by a thread, meaning as soon as my left knee healed, I would need to have surgery on my right knee as well. This second surgery would actually be a bit more complicated, requiring the doctor to insert a screw to hold my remaining cartilage in place. Instead of running in a relay and pole vaulting that weekend, I was on crutches cheering on my team mates from the stands. I would be on crutches the rest of the summer, up until the week before I left for college. Instead of practicing with the volleyball team, I was stuck in the training room doing physical therapy. My dreams were dashed. To say I was upset with God would not be accurate. I was outraged. I did not understand in the least what in the world He was doing in my life. Didn't He realize He was ruining everything?!!! I had all these perfectly laid out plans, and He was not helping me with any of them. More like HINDERING me in every possible way. We were obviously not on the same page. And so He helped me get on His...
Seeing as how I had a lot of time to sit and do nothing but read and think that awful summer, I spent many a day in the Word. God showed me a promise in Psalm 62 that literally changed my life and has since then been the passage I turn to when things don't go exactly as I expected:
I wait quietly before God,
for my victory comes from him.
2
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will never be shaken.
Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
for my hope is in him.
6
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will not be shaken.
7
My victory and honor come from God alone.
He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.
8
O my people, trust in him at all times.
Pour out your heart to him,
for God is our refuge.
God helped me see that HE needed to be my dream, not playing sports. HE needed to be my rock. HE needed to be my victory and honor. HE needed to be my everything. All else was just an added bonus. And only as I rested in Him would I experience peace. Only as I grounded myself in Him would I be able to stand strong no matter what the world may try to throw at me. Only as I trusted in Him would I NEVER be shaken.
What at first glance appeared to be a terrible, horrible, awful, no-good, very bad curse ended up being the biggest BLESSING God could ever have given me. I couldn't see it at the time, in the midst of my pain and disappointment, but looking back I can definitely see how God was in fact working out Psalm 37 in my life.
David assures us in verses 23-24, "The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand."
Funny, that we go back to that particular passage that is seemingly a new "life verse" for me right now, building on the foundational truths God taught me in Psalm 62 over 15 years ago. Had I followed the path I chosen I don't know where I would have ended up, but I wouldn't have gotten to be a RA for 2 years - the best 2 years of my college life. I wouldn't have met some of my dearest friends, whom I stay in touch with to this day via Facebook and other forms of technology despite the fact that we are on 4 different continents! I wouldn't have been a counselor at summer camp, which means I wouldn't have met my husband, which means everything about my current life would be completely and utterly different. Since I am BLESSED with the most amazing husband I could ever ask for - he's my best friend, my companion, my partner, my soul mate. We are BLESSED with 3 precious girls, whom we love with all our hearts. God has BLESSED us with a beautiful home, food in our fridge, gas in our cars, and even money in savings for college funds. He has BLESSED us with opportunities to serve Him in our neighborhood. Had I gone MY way and done MY thing, I hate to think how I would be potentially be missing out on all these amazing BLESSINGS God has so graciously given me.
But before God could share these blessings with me, He first had to BREAK me. He had to show me that sports were not the ultimate plan or purpose for my life. While they were good, they were not the BEST. I was MADE FOR MORE!
And not only that but I serve a God who can do FAR more than I am even capable of imagining. Even my wildest dreams fall short of the spectacular plans God has for me. For YOU. If you don't believe me check out what Paul proclaims with the utmost confidence in Ephesians 3:20, "Now all glory to God, who is able, through His might power at work within us, to accomplish INFINITELY MORE than we might ask or think."
I believe that right there is so important for each and every one of us to grasp. To truly understand. Since we are bombarded with messages from every which way telling us that we need this and we need that and we need more of both this and that, we begin to believe that if we don't have the best of this and the finest of that and the most of these and those, we aren't blessed. Or we let the world's obsession with "health and wealth" affect our view about God and the way He blesses us. At least I did. I assumed when my friends spoke of God's desire to bless me that they were talking about God giving me all this stuff, stuff that in the world's eyes would elevate me to a status of success and prosperity. I forgot that God's value system and the world's are in stark contrast to each other. And in making that mistake I shut myself out to the TRUTH that God DOES want to bless me. In rejecting the "health and wealth" gospel I thought they were preaching, I accepted instead the "poverty" gospel, believing that I was not worthy of being blessed, that I needed to be satisfied and content, desiring nothing for fear if I did ask for something, no matter how small, I would be looked upon as selfish and greedy and money hungry and out to get rich quick or whatever other lies Satan had disguised as truth.
My search through Scripture certainly revealed to me that my friends were the ones telling me the real truth. As we discovered in my blog post "Blessings," we very clearly see how intensely God desires to bless us and how He delights in doing so. I also began to realize that the ultimate blessing He has for us is nothing we can touch or hold, but rather something far more precious and valuable. It's priceless actually. It's a RELATIONSHIP with Him.
David reminds us of this over and over again in the Psalms:
16:11 You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.
21:16 You have endowed him with eternal blessings and given him the joy of your presence.
68:3 But let the godly rejoice. Let them be glad in God’s presence. Let them be filled with joy.
89:15 Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
The ancestors of Korah recognized this too and wrote a beautiful song expressing their desire to be in God's presence, their longing for Him above all else. Some of these words might sound familiar as they are part of a popular worship chorus we sing today...
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
2 I long, yes, I faint with longing
to enter the courts of the Lord.
With my whole being, body and soul,
I will shout joyfully to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young
at a place near your altar,
O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!
4 What joy for those who can live in your house,
always singing your praises. Interlude
O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
2 I long, yes, I faint with longing
to enter the courts of the Lord.
With my whole being, body and soul,
I will shout joyfully to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young
at a place near your altar,
O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!
4 What joy for those who can live in your house,
always singing your praises. Interlude
5 What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord,
who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
6 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,[b]
it will become a place of refreshing springs.
The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.
7 They will continue to grow stronger,
and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.[c]
who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
6 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,[b]
it will become a place of refreshing springs.
The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.
7 They will continue to grow stronger,
and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.[c]
8 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer.
Listen, O God of Jacob. Interlude
Listen, O God of Jacob. Interlude
9 O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield!
Show favor to the one you have anointed.
Show favor to the one you have anointed.
10 A single day in your courts
is better than a thousand anywhere else!
I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God
than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is our sun and our shield.
He gives us grace and glory.
The Lord will withhold no good thing
from those who do what is right.
12 O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
what joy for those who trust in you.
is better than a thousand anywhere else!
I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God
than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is our sun and our shield.
He gives us grace and glory.
The Lord will withhold no good thing
from those who do what is right.
12 O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
what joy for those who trust in you.
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
I hope you caught that the ultimate prize is not "won" here on earth. I cannot be earned or achieved of our own merit, no matter how hard we may try. It doesn't depend on our bank account, the size of our house, the kind of car in our garage, the tags on the clothes in our closet, or any other tangible possession we may own. It also doesn't depend on how athletic we are (as I quickly learned at the end of high school) or how beautiful we may be or any other talents we have or prizes we may win from the world. It has absolutely nothing to do with us, and everything to do with JESUS. And in following after Him, in CHOOSING Him over all else, therein we are BLESSED with the richest of gifts -- we are given the "crown of life and righteousness." (James 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:8)
The difficulty comes as we are not yet living in God's very presence, but rather still in the world and surrounded by voices shouting at us that success and prosperity are found in things. And so we start to desire those things (and they will be different for each one of us) more than we hunger and thirst for a relationship with God Himself. We end up robbing ourselves. We sell ourselves short. We miss out on the TRUE blessings God has for us. We forget we are MADE FOR MORE than all this world has to offer...
Which is why we have to daily go back to God's Word and remember we are "citizens of heaven" (Philippians 3:20) and should then "set our minds on the realities of heaven " (Colossians 3:1) rather than putting our hope in things here on earth, things we can touch and hold and feel, but also things that "moth and rust can destroy or thieves can steal," (Matthew 6:19), and things that can and will ultimately "fade and pass away" (1 John 2:15-17). Now these things (whatever they may be) might be perfectly fine and good in and of themselves, wonderful to enjoy. Having these things is not wrong or selfish or sinful, but we must be ever so careful to keep in mind they are not the ultimate prize. They are good, yes. They are indeed blessings from God Himself (for every good and perfect gift is from Him), but the are NOT the end all. The are NOT the BEST. They are NOT all God has for us. We are MADE FOR MORE!
We are made for HIM!!!
And that - that relationship with Him - is the biggest blessing God has for us!
May we not exchange it for something far less valuable...
Well, we did take a good look at HOW God ultimately blesses us: by extending us unmerited grace and favor and inviting us into a close, personal, intimate relationship with Him both right now here on earth and then forever and ever in His actual physical presence for all of eternity. WOW!!! Just wow!!! But due to time constraints and 3 adorable girls, we'll have to save our study about the WHY He chooses to lavish His love on us in this way for tomorrow...
For now, be still and rest. Dwell in His presence. Enjoy this amazing blessing He has for you today. As you do, listen to this song and invite the King to come, to let Him lead you back to Him.
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