Desire More of God (Part 2)
Here’s a head scratcher. According to the Barna Group, 75% of Americans identify themselves as Christians. But the same poll indicates that only 12% of American adults say their faith in God is a priority in their life. That leaves 88% of self-identified followers of Jesus living each day without God being a priority. This represents a serious disconnect from Biblical Christianity. My supposition is this:
If you would desire the God of the Bible as your primary love, God would intensify His powerful presence, influence, and direction in your life and become more real to you. The God of the Bible isn’t a 12% God—He’s an “all in” God. He wants you all in because He’s all in. He wants your primary love, your core devotion, and your principal desires.
So, if you want to break away from a marginal relationship with God, here are some next steps you can take:
No Longer Live for Self
If your day to day endeavors are not guided by God’s truth and presence as a filter to the influences of our culture, you’ll eventually loose spiritual sensitivities. What’s right? What’s wrong? What’s good or bad? What’s wise and what’s foolish? Unless your day includes a relational approach to Jesus, the voices and influences of this secular culture will hold sway over your life. And it appears that 88% of God-believing people are vulnerable to that.
But consider this: Jesus died so you would no longer live the way of a godless culture. The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:15…
“Christ died for all of us. He died so we would no longer live for ourselves, but for the One who died and was raised to life for us.”
If you're a Christ-follower, you no longer live for your own interests and pursuits, you live for and with Jesus—the One who died and raised you to life! If your mind, will, and emotions are not nurtured each day by a relationship with Jesus, you’ll eventually lose your desire for Him. Your mind will become hardened. Unchecked influences from a culture that embraces a godless worldview will result in a growing spiritual blindness. The voice of God will become distant and foreign. You will stop seeing the wonder, glory, truth, power and reality of God. And in that desert of spiritual barrenness, you’ll make bad choices with ruinous consequences.
Stop Evaluating Life From a Human Point of View
God is in the business of transforming you. He’s about removing anything that keeps you from knowing, loving and serving Him whole-heartedly. We see this in Paul’s thought process as he continues in vv. 16-17…
“So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
When I was in my early 20’s and in college, I was trying to find my way as a follower of Jesus. I hung with some guys who I know loved Jesus but they also loved a good time! Periodically I would find myself in a bar with them getting my crazy on! More than once I crossed the line. I’ll never forget the last time the buzz of alcohol was more potent than the filling of the Holy Spirit. When I was back in my dorm room I looked at myself in the mirror and said, “That’s it! I will never cross the line with alcohol again.” And I haven’t. Is that a big deal in the scheme of things? It was for me because I consciously made a decision to put the old life behind me and live as if I had a new life in Christ. Frankly, that’s a daily decision for every follower of Jesus. I still engage in wrestling matches with my old self. I still fight with the demands of my flesh, but thank God that when I fail, my faith is in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross.
Make New Life in Jesus a Daily Pursuit
When new life in Jesus is your daily reality, God will shape your spiritual sensitivities. He’ll form a discipline within you. You’ll stop evaluating others (and all of life) from a human point of view.” Author and Pastor John Piper wrote, “We become what we behold. What absorbs our interest, what we give our attention to most shapes our thinking and trains our affections.” So true! What are you allowing to dominate your life and train your affections? God? Self? Others? Our pop-culture? Make your new life in Jesus your daily pursuit!
Next Step
Today, allow God and His truth to shape your thinking and train your affections. Guard your heart and mind. Stay close to Jesus by reading your Bible, praying throughout the day, serving God by serving others, worshiping regularly, and spending time with other followers of Jesus. Take that next step and desire God as a way of life each day.
