Delight In God
Posted by jerrywhite on Aug 9, 2010
“When we speak of delight in God as our duty we must realize it is not a simple thing. One vigorous inclination in the human heart always must include others. Delight in the glory of God includes, for example,
hatred for sin,
fear of displeasing God,
hope in the promises of God,
contentment in the fellowship of God,
desire for the final revelation of the Son of God,
exultation in the redemption he accomplished,
grief and contrition for failures of love,
gratitude for underserved benefits,
zeal for the purposes of God, and
hunger for righteousness.
Our duty toward God is that all our affections respond properly to his reality
and so reflect his glory.”
John Piper
The Supremacy of God In Preaching, 78
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Delight yourself in the Lord.
Psalm 37:4 (ESV)
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Let me seek Thee in longing,
Let me long for Thee in seeking;
Let me find Thee in love,
And love Thee in finding.
Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)
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The Antidote To Sin
Posted by jerrywhite on Jan 28, 2010
“What will turn our hearts from the passing pleasures of sin? What can strengthen our wills to reject the temptations of the flesh? What will energize our souls to turn from worldly delusions? What has the power to transform our desires and reconfigure our longings and stir our emotional chemistry that we might love what God loves and hate what He hates? Only one thing. Not rules and threats and fear and punishment. Only one thing. Jesus, in all His beauty. Jesus, in all that He is for us now and will be tomorrow. [Jonathan] Edwards is certain that only Jesus can satisfy our soul’s desire. He says:
[In Jesus] the longing soul may be satisfied and the hungry soul may be filled with goodness. The delight and contentment that is to be found here, passeth understanding, and is unspeakable and full of glory. It is impossible for those who ever tasted of this fountain, and know the sweetness of it, ever to forsake it. The soul has found the river of water of life, and it desires no other drink; it has found the tree of life, and it desires no other fruit.
Sam Storms
Pleasures Evermore, 163
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He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
John 21:17 (ESV)
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The Lord Jesus exposed to Simon Peter the reason for his sinful failure after Peter denied three times that he even knew Jesus. The question Jesus pressed to him three times, no doubt reminding Peter of his three denials, was regarding his love for Jesus. “Do you love me?” From Peter’s failure and Jesus’ response we learn the vital key to being faithful to the Lord Jesus: Deep, adoring love for this beautiful person that compels you to stay in intimate fellowship with Him. When you profoundly love Him, loss of intimate fellowship with Him becomes your greatest fear. This satisfying love relationship can be chosen and cultivated. Then the Holy Spirit delights to make it real—intensely real.
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Waning Love
Posted by jerrywhite on Apr 23, 2009
“Intimacy with God is a fragile thing that must be carefully guarded.
M. Basilea Schlink tells of her own experience of waning love:
‘I came to see that my relationship to my Lord Jesus Christ, with the passing years had eroded away, something like a marriage gone humdrum. What did I do when I found a little pocket of spare time, on Sunday or a holiday? I couldn’t wait to get together with other people—people I liked, people with whom I had something in common—so that we could share ideas and experiences. Or I read a stimulating book. Or I went out to enjoy nature. I even plunged further into my work, doing things that I normally didn’t have time for. But to go to Jesus—to give Him first claim on my spare time, that I did not do’ ”
J. Oswald Sanders
Enjoying Intimacy With God, p.43
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I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.
Revelation 2:4-5 (ESV)
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The Lord Jesus wants us to love Him— to love Him passionately with our whole heart. This is not because He needs our love because He does not. He is perfectly fulfilled in the love and joy of the Trinity. However, His great love for us causes Him to desire that we be most fulfilled, and He knows that loving Him supremely and desiring His nearness brings us the deepest fulfillment, peace, and joy possible.
Everything in our world is against intimacy with Christ. Our own flesh resists the discipline required for closeness with the Lord Jesus. The devil’s emissaries war against us to prevent us drawing near to God. If the evil one cannot stop us with the snare of sin then he will use good and respectable things to hinder us.
Love and thirst are powerful motivations. The young lover longs to be with the beloved and will seek every opportunity to make it happen. Thirst compels one to seek for what will quench its longing until it is found. The wonder of our Lord’s grace is that we can ask Him to give us strong thirst for Him and to strengthen our love for Him—and He will. He meets us where we are just for the asking. If we draw near, He will draw near.
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The Lord’s Approval
Posted by jerrywhite on Mar 2, 2009
“What strange thing is this, my Lord?—that there is anything to gain by winning the approval and favor of other men and women. After all, they are only created beings, as we are.
It does not matter one whit if everyone speaks highly of me. It matters only that I live without blame in your sight, my Lord!”
Theresa of Avila
Majestic Is your Name, p. 127
Edited by David Hazard
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For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Galatians 1:10 (ESV)
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Every human being needs approval. It is a major issue for each person. Even pet dogs respond to approval. Approval affirms and encourages. When our first parents disobeyed in the Garden of Eden they instantly knew guilt and fear and were met with God’s disapproval. Their souls became corrupted with pride and independence, but their need for approval was still present. Separated from their Creator by sin mankind began to look other places for approval rather than to their sovereign Creator. Social approval became more important than God’s approval—sinful man approving other sinful people according to what perverted sinful souls deem acceptable. When one becomes a follower of Jesus Christ the source of approval changes. The believer must learn to look only to their Master for approval. The nature of sinful flesh, which never changes, always wants the approval of fellow human beings. When one loves the Lord Jesus more than anyone or anything else the result is a longing to please the Master in all things, and this becomes the only approval that truly matters. Ruthless honesty is required for us to examine whose approval we really want—the Lord’s or someone else’s.
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Satisfying His Heart
Posted by jerrywhite on Jan 26, 2009
“How few of us are concerned about satisfying His heart. How I hear Him saying, ‘I thirst, give me to drink.’ May my Lord never let me grow cold in my longing to be a cup in His hand for the quenching of His own royal thirst.”
Oswald Chambers’ diary, July 12, 1909
From biography by McCasland, Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God, 167
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A woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table.
[Jesus said] “She has done a beautiful thing to me.”
Matthew 26:7, 10 (ESV)
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One who truly loves considers how to bless the beloved rather than looking for how the beloved can bless them. Selfish human nature wants to receive before it gives, or it gives with a selfish view to what blessing it may receive in return. How corrupt our sinful nature is with selfishness, even in the hidden parts of our being.
The Lord Jesus loves with no strings attached. He loves untainted by selfishness. He wholeheartedly wants the best for you, and He delights to bless you.
Significant progress in your relationship with Him occurs when you become primarily concerned about blessing him. When your desire is ruled by a longing to know His heart, and what you can do for Him rather than what He can do for you, you then enter into a new dimension of relationship. Although it is not wrong to ask your gracious Lord for what you need, if you love Him, you will want to know His heart and how you can bless Him. In the Gospel accounts very few came to give to the Lord Jesus without asking for anything in return. These seemed to touch His heart in a special way. And you can also.
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