Seven years ago, my life was dramatically changed when I discovered this truth:
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
C.S. Lewis
(I didn’t read it from Lewis’s book, The Weight of Glory, but from John Piper in his message on Christian Hedonism. You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cRkUt4glaE)
I had spent more than twenty years trying to reconcile my innate desire to be happy with my desire to please God. The fact is that the world is FILLED with unhappy (or at best mildly happy) Christians trying to convince people that not drinking and not having sex and not partying and going to church and reading the bible and praying is the most enjoyable way to live. Pffft. Please. We are not convincing anyone. I know I wasn’t convincing myself… Until, one day, I experienced the Presence of God. In that very moment, I felt like I had taken the first desperate breath of air after years of being held under water. That life-giving gasp signaled that I would indeed live and not die. That I could be an unbelievably happy Christian.
To this day, the Presence of God is the ONLY thing that has eclipsed the copious worldly pleasures that I have tasted. The sad thing is that Christians who have experienced the fellowship of the Presence of God are rare. I don’t care how great the worship session was or how much the preacher blew your mind, without God’s tangible presence touching our lives we are still dead. D.E.A.D.
In Psalm 16:11b David says:
in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
This truth is worthy of a lifetime of pondering and pursuit. Consider these statements:
Fullness of joy – no joy lacking, perfect joy, complete fulfillment.
Pleasures forevermore – eternal bless, unending happiness, delights upon delights.
This is where every Christian should reside. When this type of joy exudes from our soul, then the world will know the glory and worth of our King! We should not settle for less. We cannot settle for less! There can be no waivers or qualifications! Nothing less than His Presence with us can be accepted as the normal Christian life. This was Moses’ prayer. We will not go without Your Presence! We have become altogether too content to go on without God. Go on with our worship sessions. Go on with our oratorical theatrical sermons. Go on with our well-choreographed shows utterly devoid of the Presence and power of God.
When the glory cloud fell on the temple that Solomon built, the priests could not even stand to minister! Has the Presence ever brought us to our knees? God has left the building. The church has become a dead academic institution of biblical doctrinal propagation. Tragic.
There is something called the existential reality of God. Few have experienced it. God can be felt, heard and seen. Saul saw a blinding light and heard a voice. That encounter so transformed his life that he left behind the Christian-killing Pharisee of Pharisees Saul and became the apostle Paul – commissioned by God. This existential reality of God has practically left the planet and the responsibility for that tragedy falls squarely on our shoulders.
My exhortation to us today is, “Do not settle!” Do not settle for dead religion. He has promised that if we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him! Let us make an unbreakable oath with ourselves to become lifelong seekers! Whatever little caresses of the Spirit that I have felt, have left me hungry for more. Whatever little tastes of His love that I have sampled, have left me completely wrecked and longing for more of Him and Him alone. Whatever whispers of His voice that have broken through my consciousness, have left me yearning just to hear His voice.
Do not settle for church as normal! Do not settle for a mediocre Christian life! Do not settle for being a good Christian with a happy family and a pet charity. God is so much more! Seek Him until you find Him. We are meant to live in the unspeakable joy of the Presence of God! Anything else is a wasted existence. Any other life pursuit is a side-issue.
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