Monday, September 21, 2009

Interrogating the Heart


What is that thing which stands between you and total happiness? What is that that your heart claims will be the key to your satisfaction? Is it an accomplishment? A goal in school? Marriage? Popularity? What is it?

Whatever that thing is, if it stands between you and total happiness in Christ, it's an idol that will only lead to your hurt.

Of course, we have God-given gifts and hunger to do things. Sometimes we feel as if we'll never have peace unless we're knee deep in accomplishing those goals. But don't let that understanding make you automatically dub your desire as "healthy" and "God-given." We should always be in a position where we can stop what we're doing, take a breather, and still be happy because Christ is the well from which we draw our joy.

James 4:14-15 exclaims, "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'"

You don't know what will happen tomorrow. Why hope in something that is not sure?

Since your life is only a blip on the radar, is it worthwhile to spend it on this unnamed pursuit?

Is longing for this thing bringing about positive transformation in your spiritual life, or are you growing in bitterness instead?

As Elisabeth Elliot concluded, "Until the will and the affections are brought under the authority of Christ, we have not begun to understand, let alone to accept, His Lordship. My heart would forever be a lonely hunter unless settled 'where true joys are to be found'."

Are you satisfied? Or are you a lonely hunter?