Our Obsessions

There is an absolute disconnect between the way we instinctively want to live life and the Kingdom of Heaven. Oftentimes we pit the ways of the world against God’s ways (which is a true discrepancy), but in doing so we fail to recognize the utter inadequacy of the inclinations of our heart when compared to God’s Kingdom. Or maybe we don’t fail to recognize it. Maybe it is because we recognize it that we point fingers at the world.

In our heads, especially once we’ve been following Jesus for an extended amount of time, we don’t think we are that far off from God’s standard of perfection. We probably wouldn’t say this outright, but we believe that our reflexes, reactions, wandering thoughts and earnest desires are all pretty darn close to sinless. What a dangerous thought.

I don’t come anywhere close to having a kneejerk reaction of praying for those who persecute me. I’d rather forget about my enemies and consider myself holy than love them. I like to eat, and therefore feel no guilt when Jesus starts statements about fasting with the assumption that you’re already doing it and know that I am not. I war with my heart regularly about the fact that I indeed CANNOT earn my salvation, or God’s pleasure, or his love. I’m almost always battling with my heart to love the approval of God more than I love the approval of man. And inherent in most of my behavior is a basic lack of faith that what God says in the Bible is true, simply because if I truly believed all the things Jesus has to say I’d live in very different ways than I currently do.

Everything within me seems to have a gravitational pull equivalent to that of the sun, dragging me ever towards the firebright allure of selfishness and sin.

It’s just a fact.

But what is also fact is that the one who is in me is not only greater than those who are in the world, but he is also greater than I am. He’s stronger. Sweeter. Wiser. More loving and kind and just. And he has the power to change my will and my desires to love the things of God more than I love myself.

It honestly feels unbelievable, but it’s true.

“We all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” 2Cor 3:18

We are being transformed into the same image of consummate excellence that shines in Christ. How can you know what you should be moving towards or how you should be growing if you are not transfixed on Christ? He is the image. He is the blueprint. He is the one that should be the model for everything we become, and we should be making every effort, like tracing paper laid over the top of an image, to bring every aspect of our lives into alignment with his.

The smartphone is a wonderful thing because it revealed to us that addiction isn’t confined to a few people who battle with a few things like drugs and alcohol and gambling. We all have addictive personalities, and are at all times obsessed with something. It could be something as overt as our work or romantic lives, or as subtle as something like our independence or opinion. But something is always the center of our focus, captivating our minds and hearts. Thanks be to God that we can be transformed. Praise him that he is stronger than we are, because he can take our weak hearts and minds and bend them into obsession over Jesus and the Kingdom of God.

That verse from 2 Corinthians mentioned above does not say that transformation comes by way of an epic to do list or a 5 point strategy. It comes by looking at Jesus. Did you notice that? Looking at Jesus leads to transformation, meaning God must have given us just enough strength and willpower to turn towards Jesus and stay focused on Him. It will take every ounce of our puny willpower, but we have enough, and it is our only hope to live in alignment with the kingdom of God, our only chance at seeing heaven invade earth through our lives, and our only shot at living the abundant life God has to offer before we get to heaven.