Calfito
01-22-2004, 12:55 PM
From Good Things?
Simple Pleasures?
Yes you can, but it really depends on what you want out of life.
My wife and I have two teenagers, a boy and a girl. I think we enjoy both of them more now than even when they were young. Pleasures like this are a gift from God.
However, it would be easy to get caught up depending on them for our sense of well being. Rather than turning to God, it would be easy to turn to my kids to reassure myself with how well they do in life. But that would put a great strain on our relationship. If they did something wrong, I would tend to take it personally and correct them wrongly.
People are incapable of filling our need for God. When we try to depend on them, we miss out on that which could greatly help our closeness to God. We also hurt the people we love most. Therefore, I try to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. I love those times with my family when we laugh and have fun together. I enjoy my daughter’s strong faith in the Lord. It would be easy to feed myself with that. Yet, I don’t want to miss out on closeness to God and the spiritual power that results from quenching my thirst with His presence. Even while I am watching my boy in a soccer game I still try to stay before the Lord and "drink." Though I don’t always do as well in this as I would like, I try not to let myself "drink" from the goals he makes during the game. That puts too much pressure on him after the game. Another reason I try to keep my focus on being before the Lord is because I want the Holy Spirit to be flowing through me and working in the lives of the other people at the game.
Husbands and Wives
The needs we have to be loved and feel secure, even our need for relationship itself, are all symptoms of our need for the presence of God. As a result, meeting the needs of your spouse, to the full extent, is far beyond the ability of any human being. We are only capable of giving our spouse a little taste of what it is like to have those needs met by God. Our longings are just too great.
Early in our marriage I read several books on husband wife relationships. Most of them addressed the importance of loving our spouse by meeting their needs. That information was good as far as it went. But, problems developed because I somehow got the impression it was right for me to depend on my wife to meet my own needs. That was wrong. It created a lot of unnecessary stress in our home and hurt our relationship. It wasn’t until years later that I learned that, while I was to love her as best I could, my dependence on her to meet my own needs was selfish and idolatry.
Only, don’t misunderstand me here. It is not sin to get a hug when you need to feel loved or need some encouragement. Please don’t let yourself feel the slightest bit guilty for letting someone hug you! God gives us relationships for this purpose. He understands our weakness and accepts us. We should too. The problems develop when our pursuit is directed toward human relationships as the means of meeting our own needs.
Relationships With Other Christians
We should get together with other Christians just to have fun. We should spend time together enjoying each other. However, we should not call it ‘Christian fellowship’ if the result of being together is to increase faith in human interaction as our best hope for quenching our thirsty soul. Doing so, won’t move us any closer to God, only deeper into bondage. Since we should seek the kingdom of God first and foremost, we have to trust God to give us His Holy Spirit freely. Otherwise, we won’t be able to actually quench our desires with God and hidden forms of selfishness will run rampant in our homes and in our churches as a result.
Because so many quench their thirst by earthly means, does that mean we should avoid giving people compliments? The answer to that is, "No!" Jesus commanded us to love others (John 15:12). The Bible tells us we should encourage each other and build one another up (1 Thess. 5:11). That someone may use what you give them as food for their thirsty soul isn’t reason for you to stop loving them. Be kind and give compliments without hesitation.
The balance is for each of us as individuals to remember, the best hope we have to meet our own needs is not to turn human relationships into idolatry. Without enjoying God as our confidence and security, our worship toward Him will always be divided.
We Should Not Feed Each Other with Ourselves
We need relationships. Especially with other Christians, but it is wrong to try to depend on relationships in order to quench our thirst for God (John 5:44).
In times past, I tried to quench my desires by feeding on how well I gave acceptance and approval to other people. Years ago, I welcomed visitors to our church this way. I actually believed that was what it meant to be loving toward other people. I was wrong. I only made people more addicted to human relationships, not God. I thought I was loving the Lord and feeding His sheep. But, I was only feeding myself.
Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love Me?" Then He said Peter should "Tend My lambs; Shepherd My Sheep; and Tend My Lambs (John 21:15-17). The ‘lambs’ Jesus spoke about refers to the people of God. Some translations say, "Feed my sheep." This can be easily misunderstood. Being told to ‘feed’ His sheep makes it sound like we should actually be the ones giving the food. Yet, it is not that way. The more more accurate translation is that of tending and shepherding so that the sheep can feed on the Lord.
Think about a shepherd. What do they do? They don’t actually feed the sheep. Real shepherds lead the sheep to a place where water is plentiful and the sheep can drink. It should be the same in the church. Don’t let yourself think even for a moment that what you have to offer is as good as the throne room of God. If the sheep aren’t feeding themselves with the presence of God then they will always be dissatisfied. Outside of the throne room itself, the longings and desires of the sheep are far too great for any pastor to fill.
Certainly this topic applies to pastors in our churches. But, I believe it applies just as much to the rest of us too. We should all be helping one another to around the obstacles that keep us from faith. We all need help to find greater freedom to draw near to God. I know from personal experience that it is easy to believe that you are loving people when all you are doing is loving yourself. I just didn’t understand yet.
Even so, the prophet Ezekiel gave a prophecy about judgment on shepherds who feed themselves with the sheep: "...Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them...So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them." (Ezekiel 34:10). In that chapter the Lord is frustrated because the shepherds are not leading people so they can quench their thirst with God (Ezekiel 34; see also Matt. 23:13). That chapter in Ezekiel affects me deeply. I have often wept because of it, not as much for the sheep, but for the shepherds. When you think you have been doing the best thing possible, it would be crushing to find out otherwise. If you have a pastor, who is like I was for so long, be patient. God is shepherding him too.
Both the interaction with other Christians, and the preaching, should foster faith and trust toward God, not deepen our demand to keep us receiving "...glory from one another..." (John 5:44). The Bible says, "...it will be said, "Build up, build up, prepare the way, Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people." (Isaiah 57:13). Therefore, we need to be making it easier, not harder. Building each other up and removing obstacles means we have to help one another to find freedom to turn to the Lord and feed on Him.
It is vital that Christian churches provide a place where people feel accepted, appreciated, valued, and loved. Yet, that won’t happen if the emphasis is placed primarily on building relationships with other people. The balance is as difficult to maintain as it is vital.
We should get together with other Christians just to have fun. We should spend time together enjoying each other. However, we should not call it ‘Christian fellowship’ if the result of being together is to increase faith in human interaction as our best hope for quenching our thirsty soul. Doing so, won’t move us any closer to God, only deeper into bondage.
It is all about what is in your heart about how you hope to quench your own thirst and how you believe it is best to help others. Be careful not to let yourself be swayed by pressures from zealous Christians who, though they don’t come out and say it, hard sell ‘fellowship’ as the best hope we can have of quenching our thirsty desires. Christian unity is far more than cookies and red cool-aid after church.
Simple Pleasures?
Yes you can, but it really depends on what you want out of life.
My wife and I have two teenagers, a boy and a girl. I think we enjoy both of them more now than even when they were young. Pleasures like this are a gift from God.
However, it would be easy to get caught up depending on them for our sense of well being. Rather than turning to God, it would be easy to turn to my kids to reassure myself with how well they do in life. But that would put a great strain on our relationship. If they did something wrong, I would tend to take it personally and correct them wrongly.
People are incapable of filling our need for God. When we try to depend on them, we miss out on that which could greatly help our closeness to God. We also hurt the people we love most. Therefore, I try to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. I love those times with my family when we laugh and have fun together. I enjoy my daughter’s strong faith in the Lord. It would be easy to feed myself with that. Yet, I don’t want to miss out on closeness to God and the spiritual power that results from quenching my thirst with His presence. Even while I am watching my boy in a soccer game I still try to stay before the Lord and "drink." Though I don’t always do as well in this as I would like, I try not to let myself "drink" from the goals he makes during the game. That puts too much pressure on him after the game. Another reason I try to keep my focus on being before the Lord is because I want the Holy Spirit to be flowing through me and working in the lives of the other people at the game.
Husbands and Wives
The needs we have to be loved and feel secure, even our need for relationship itself, are all symptoms of our need for the presence of God. As a result, meeting the needs of your spouse, to the full extent, is far beyond the ability of any human being. We are only capable of giving our spouse a little taste of what it is like to have those needs met by God. Our longings are just too great.
Early in our marriage I read several books on husband wife relationships. Most of them addressed the importance of loving our spouse by meeting their needs. That information was good as far as it went. But, problems developed because I somehow got the impression it was right for me to depend on my wife to meet my own needs. That was wrong. It created a lot of unnecessary stress in our home and hurt our relationship. It wasn’t until years later that I learned that, while I was to love her as best I could, my dependence on her to meet my own needs was selfish and idolatry.
Only, don’t misunderstand me here. It is not sin to get a hug when you need to feel loved or need some encouragement. Please don’t let yourself feel the slightest bit guilty for letting someone hug you! God gives us relationships for this purpose. He understands our weakness and accepts us. We should too. The problems develop when our pursuit is directed toward human relationships as the means of meeting our own needs.
Relationships With Other Christians
We should get together with other Christians just to have fun. We should spend time together enjoying each other. However, we should not call it ‘Christian fellowship’ if the result of being together is to increase faith in human interaction as our best hope for quenching our thirsty soul. Doing so, won’t move us any closer to God, only deeper into bondage. Since we should seek the kingdom of God first and foremost, we have to trust God to give us His Holy Spirit freely. Otherwise, we won’t be able to actually quench our desires with God and hidden forms of selfishness will run rampant in our homes and in our churches as a result.
Because so many quench their thirst by earthly means, does that mean we should avoid giving people compliments? The answer to that is, "No!" Jesus commanded us to love others (John 15:12). The Bible tells us we should encourage each other and build one another up (1 Thess. 5:11). That someone may use what you give them as food for their thirsty soul isn’t reason for you to stop loving them. Be kind and give compliments without hesitation.
The balance is for each of us as individuals to remember, the best hope we have to meet our own needs is not to turn human relationships into idolatry. Without enjoying God as our confidence and security, our worship toward Him will always be divided.
We Should Not Feed Each Other with Ourselves
We need relationships. Especially with other Christians, but it is wrong to try to depend on relationships in order to quench our thirst for God (John 5:44).
In times past, I tried to quench my desires by feeding on how well I gave acceptance and approval to other people. Years ago, I welcomed visitors to our church this way. I actually believed that was what it meant to be loving toward other people. I was wrong. I only made people more addicted to human relationships, not God. I thought I was loving the Lord and feeding His sheep. But, I was only feeding myself.
Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love Me?" Then He said Peter should "Tend My lambs; Shepherd My Sheep; and Tend My Lambs (John 21:15-17). The ‘lambs’ Jesus spoke about refers to the people of God. Some translations say, "Feed my sheep." This can be easily misunderstood. Being told to ‘feed’ His sheep makes it sound like we should actually be the ones giving the food. Yet, it is not that way. The more more accurate translation is that of tending and shepherding so that the sheep can feed on the Lord.
Think about a shepherd. What do they do? They don’t actually feed the sheep. Real shepherds lead the sheep to a place where water is plentiful and the sheep can drink. It should be the same in the church. Don’t let yourself think even for a moment that what you have to offer is as good as the throne room of God. If the sheep aren’t feeding themselves with the presence of God then they will always be dissatisfied. Outside of the throne room itself, the longings and desires of the sheep are far too great for any pastor to fill.
Certainly this topic applies to pastors in our churches. But, I believe it applies just as much to the rest of us too. We should all be helping one another to around the obstacles that keep us from faith. We all need help to find greater freedom to draw near to God. I know from personal experience that it is easy to believe that you are loving people when all you are doing is loving yourself. I just didn’t understand yet.
Even so, the prophet Ezekiel gave a prophecy about judgment on shepherds who feed themselves with the sheep: "...Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them...So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them." (Ezekiel 34:10). In that chapter the Lord is frustrated because the shepherds are not leading people so they can quench their thirst with God (Ezekiel 34; see also Matt. 23:13). That chapter in Ezekiel affects me deeply. I have often wept because of it, not as much for the sheep, but for the shepherds. When you think you have been doing the best thing possible, it would be crushing to find out otherwise. If you have a pastor, who is like I was for so long, be patient. God is shepherding him too.
Both the interaction with other Christians, and the preaching, should foster faith and trust toward God, not deepen our demand to keep us receiving "...glory from one another..." (John 5:44). The Bible says, "...it will be said, "Build up, build up, prepare the way, Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people." (Isaiah 57:13). Therefore, we need to be making it easier, not harder. Building each other up and removing obstacles means we have to help one another to find freedom to turn to the Lord and feed on Him.
It is vital that Christian churches provide a place where people feel accepted, appreciated, valued, and loved. Yet, that won’t happen if the emphasis is placed primarily on building relationships with other people. The balance is as difficult to maintain as it is vital.
We should get together with other Christians just to have fun. We should spend time together enjoying each other. However, we should not call it ‘Christian fellowship’ if the result of being together is to increase faith in human interaction as our best hope for quenching our thirsty soul. Doing so, won’t move us any closer to God, only deeper into bondage.
It is all about what is in your heart about how you hope to quench your own thirst and how you believe it is best to help others. Be careful not to let yourself be swayed by pressures from zealous Christians who, though they don’t come out and say it, hard sell ‘fellowship’ as the best hope we can have of quenching our thirsty desires. Christian unity is far more than cookies and red cool-aid after church.