Tuesday, May 21, 2013

For The Lonely

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt. 11:28-30

I'm aware of the transparency a topic like this requires.  But I'm honestly sharing this in hope of being a help to my friends who struggle with the same things I struggle with.  Because deep into the root of ALL of us we want to be loved.  Now we pursue those things in different ways because we define it in different ways, but it is all from the pursuit of love.  And I'm praying that you are able to grow in your understanding of how the "all who labor and are heavy laden" looks like, and how it sounds.  Here's how I read the world around me. 

When I'm listening to people boast in how drunk they got the previous night, to me I see them trying to show the people listening that they are acceptable.  Acceptance is a pursuit of love.  Being in any kind of community or sense of family is better than none at all.  That's why guys join gangs.  A sense of family is a strong connection.  A feeling of belonging is strong, and it runs deep within us creating connections and usually behavior follows.  

I also know some people who are deeply desiring to be successful.  Nothing wrong with ambition, but the pursuit of status is simply still a desire for love.  We associate great status with again being accepted, which we have somehow equated as love.  I've seen this in myself, when I'm notice the football players on campus getting attention and somewhere within me a jealous cord chimes, and I feel less loved because they love this football player because of his status.  

Now I love the text above because it seems to be pointing at the fact that these pursuits are exhausting.  These vain pursuits are exhausting because they don't fully satisfy.  We always want more.  We always want more money, a greater high, greater drunken nights, higher status, higher profits, higher acceptance.  That's why we name drop.  That's why we puff our chest out because we got new clothes or shoes.  We want to be admired and loved, we all want this.  

Christians, why do we struggle with this?  I mean, it makes sense that an unbeliever would fall into this toil and tiresome cycle because they don't believe in the God of love, the Creator and Sustainer, the Joy and Peace of our souls and salvation.  We actually know the Jesus that's saying come to Him so we can have rest and yet.....

We choose not to. 

I'm starting to have grace for the atheists.  I mean, Christian's don't live like there's a God.  I don't blame them for thinking there isn't one.  Doesn't make it true, just saying I understand it now.  

But you, if you are a Christian and a follower of Jesus, what are you doing?  Do you not know who you are connected to?  Do you not know who you are in communion with?  Do you not know who you are in fellowship with?  Do you not know who your Father is?  

You betta recognize!  

No seriously, we NEED to do a better job of this.  We of all people should not be turning to the things of this world to find satisfaction when we serve an infinite God.  We of all people should know how to find love because we know the God of love.  Can't have true love without God.  Don't care how many Live, Laugh, Love shirts you wear.  You're not getting to the fullness of your being without God.  You'll never truly experience love without experiencing the Cross where God displayed His love for you.  But in that, for the believers, what am I saying?  

We are connected to the ultimate source of love.  When I'm laying up at night praying for God to send me my wife ASAP, and He calls my name to come and rest in Him because He's still preparing her and me, and I turn Him away because he's not a woman and I want her now.  He usually hands me over to my desires and I get hurt.  I'm sure some of you can relate to that.  

Do I really realize what I'm saying in that moment?  God isn't as good as a woman?  Like, the Creator of the woman isn't good enough?  God isn't as good as marriage, so I have to help Him out because He's being slow? 

Brother, all that sexual drive you have is your pursuit of love.  Whether you're looking for it through porn or you're one of the fortunate ones and can get girls to have sex with you on the regular, listen,--- You're exposed.  The cross already exposed you.  You want love.  You want it pretty bad too.  You need love.  And you're looking for it in terrible places, and that's why you're never satisfied.  You're probably more lonely that you realize.

Sister, your desire to be married is, well, your pursuit of love.  You beautifully desire the security of what marriage CAN AND SHOULD bring to you.  I wish somehow culture could leave your minds alone and let you see the beauty of the cross, that in it you are already loved securely.  That white wedding dress you're desperately waiting to wear is already wrapped around you because Jesus's holy blood has covered all of your sins, and you are now seen as holy and blameless before God.

But hear me. I'm not saying these desires are bad within themselves.  Sex is from God.  Marriage is from God.  But see something....it's FROM GOD.  So get in your mind how good sex feels and how good marriage is....JUST IMAGINE WHAT THE CREATOR OF IT CAN DO FOR YOU!?

You have to hear that.  The Creator of all you crave is wanting your heart.  

So I charge you with this.  Know your God.  Know who you're connected to.  Those things you are longing for, trust in God's timing and enjoy the Creator of those things until He hands those precious gifts to you.  Love the giver of the gifts, not just the gifts. Let's love God.

I mean, let's really love Him.


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