Loving God Purely

This Momentary Marriage-The Story of Ian & Larissa

(Shared from the Desiring God Blog. To read the full blog post please visit this link: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-story-of-ian-larissa.) 

   

Here is an excerpt from the blog article that really cut right to my heart.

"Being satisfied in God (or anything) always seems easier when all is going well. But when things you love are being stripped out of your hands, then the test is real. If God remains precious in those moments, then his supreme worth shines more brightly. He is most glorified."

God has really been showing me how adulterous my heart is towards Him.  Reading this article and watching this video really made me ask the question to my heart, "How precious is God to me?  Is He precious to me because of what He does for me and what He gives me, or is He precious for who He is?"

Matt and I are reading a book titled The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler.  I am going to share a portion of the book that God has used to also cause me to examine my heart in my love for God.
  

        "We are a worshiping people.  Worship is an innate desire, an instinct and impulse wired into us by God Himself.  This is a gift from God.  But what happens when instead of using the gift of worship from God for God, we terminate our worship on the stuff God made?  What happens when we attempt to hijack God's story about Himself and rewrite it with ourselves at the center?

        This is insurrection.  It is infernal mutiny.  What happens when we argue with God about how God should govern, even daring to threaten that if He doesn't govern the way we want Him to, we won't believe in Him, won't follow Him, and will become His enemy?

        The Scriptures always paint the universe as a kind of interactive, living thing.  For instance, the book of Isaiah says the mountains and hills sing and the trees clap (55:12).  Luke 19:40 talks about stones crying out when we don't.  All creation groans (Rom. 8:22).  The Bible depicts creation as a sort of cosmic concert of interactive worship.  In Jeremiah 2, for example, we see that the creation responds in different ways to us in relation to how we relate to God.  When God's people embrace idolatry and "changed their glory for that which does not profit," the Lord commanded: "Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate" (Jer. 2:11-12).

        Why?  The universe shudders in horror that we have this infinitely valuable, infinitely deep, infinitely rich, infinitely wise, infinitely loving God, and instead of pursuing Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; instead of attributing to Him glory and honor and praise and power and wisdom and strength--we just try to take His toys and run.  It is still idolatry to want God for His benefits but not for Himself.  Why would the universe shudder in horror at this idea?  (In the original language, Hebrew, the essential idea is that they're literally terrified that God might snap and rip the universe to shreds.)  It shudders because the universe is the theater of God's glory and the Scriptures portray this theater as having the instinct itself that it is there to showcase worship.  When we, who have been placed as stewards over God's creation, go rogue and worship not the Creator but the creation, the theater is shaken by this blasphemous treason."

As I look at my life and see the biggest blessings that God has given me--salvation, my husband Matt, family, house, good job, abundance of money, the ability to go to the grocery store and buy whatever ingredients I want, resources to travel, and on and on and on......I really question my response to God if He had never given me any of those things.  How precious would He be to me then?  If He had not in His grace given me salvation would He be a mean God that doesn't deserve praise?  Absolutely not.  I do think that blessings God gives me can grow me in thankfulness and love towards Him, but more often then not I do base my love for God because of the things He does for me.  If He chose to take all those things away I'm scared to know where my love for Him would be.  I honestly think most of it would have gone away with all the "stuff".  

In Psalm 78:58-59 Asaph is talking about the Israelites when He writes, "For they provoked Him to anger with their high places; they moved Him to jealousy with their idols.  When God heard, He was full of wrath and He utterly rejected Israel."

I don't want that to be my life story, and I know because of God's grace and my salvation that it won't be. However, I am as a follower of Christ to grow in Christ-likeness which means learning to love God for who He is and not for the things He has given me.