The Scale

 Oftentimes were asked questions that we avoid giving the answers to. This is especially true when the question comes from the heart of God. One morning, a morning I remember well, He asked such a question of me. It wasn't a new one. I'd had it written down in my prayer journal for a while. I even had an asterisk beside it, which signifies to me it's importance. The question comes through the writings of Larry Crabb. "If we were to put all the blessings we desire on the right side of a scale, and then place the blessing we're told to desire above all other things, intimacy with Him, on the left, do we believe what is on the left, Him, will truly outweigh what is on the right?" I said I have an asterisk beside it and for so long I avoided giving a clear answer. I've had and have so many desires. Good ones. Beautiful ones. Weighty ones. Was I willing to answer? Was I willing to see on which side the scale did tip? Are you?

There are some Scriptures that come to mind in the pursuit of our desires. The first is that we're told that He'll give us "the desires of our heart." We love that truth. I love it. The second comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself. He tells us to "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and ALL THESE things will be added unto you." I accent these things on purpose, for we are likely to do the same in our hearts. We can become very skilled at denying the truth of this. Seeking Him first can become nothing more than a spiritual formula for getting what we want, what we most want from His hand. I've been there too often. I can still be tempted to be there now. Can you?

I'm in the homestretch of my life. Much of what I desired when I was younger has passed by, but I haven't forgotten how strong they could be, and how, no matter how "good," they could pull me away from Him. I have long professed Him as the deepest desire of my life, and sincerely believed He has been, but too often, the scales of my life desires tipped precariously away from Him. It's this reality that brings me, and you, back to Crabb's question: What has our hearts? Our desire for "these things," or our desire for Him?

We need to understand that He doesn't seek to take our desire for the good away from us. He seeks to take us away from a desire that's so strong that it controls us, and as a result, has more power over us than He does. He seeks to deliver us from an obsession over having lesser things and missing the best thing. Him. His fellowship, His heart, His love. If we miss Him, we miss everything. In gaining something we end up with nothing.

His desire and pursuit of us is infinite. There is no need for a scale to weigh His heart in that. There is for us, and He places the scale before us. On which side does it lean?

Blessings,
Pastor O