If my calendar or day-to-day activities are any indication of where my affections lay, then I have to ask myself, do I really love God? I seem to love a lot of stuff more than I love God.
I hate to admit it.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all of your leftover passions and strength, personal preferences, Facebook posts and strong opinions.”
Remember that verse? Me neither.
Here are 7 Things that I (apparently) love way more than God.
- The American Dream Oh man, my version of this is that I want more of everything! Bigger, faster, louder… And even if I don’t work that hard, I deserve it. After all–I pay my taxes. That’s what we fought all these wars for, right?
- Comfort I’ve noticed that I only get angry or unsettled when things don’t go EXACTLY the way I want them to. So I work hard to set up my schedule and interactions with people in a way that maximizes my I pretty much make all my choices based on this.
- Money It’s not that I want a ton of it, just a little more than I currently have. I spend A LOT of time working to get it, account for it and spend it. (Sure hate when I have to give it away.) Remember…it’s not really the root of all evil. No, wait….
- Entertainment I love me some TV! And movies! And technology! There’s nothing like spending hours digging through a heap of dung to maybe find the morsel of redemption somewhere near the bottom. Maybe.A=muse=ment: /root word/ amuse: “to divert the attention”. Hmmm…from what to what (or who)?
- Flexibility I love it when people are flexible with me and my schedule and preferences (see Comfort above). But what I really love is keeping my options open. I hate to commit to do anything before I absolutely have to. You never know–there’s a slight chance of the possibility that something might just maybe come up that I could prefer more.
- Gossip I’ve gotten really good at speaking and listening in such a way as to always avoid the appearance of evil while searching for, or serving up, juicy morsels of “truth”. I can’t seem to get enough of it! And I’ve found a new source to get my fix: there is plenty of gossip online and on television. (More on gossip.)
- Being Liked I have pretty strong opinions about most things. But I try and keep them to myself a lot of the time because it’s super-important that everyone like me and think well of me. I really want to be perceived as “nice” at all costs. I’m addicted to it! Speaking the truth in love puts that at risk. Nope.
What I ULTIMATELY Love More Than God
All of these could really be summed up under one big category of what I love more than God: Me!
My time, my preferences, my choices, my stuff… me, mine, more!
I’m guessing that you can relate to this? You may even be feeling a little sting. Hey, like I said, these are things that I am super guilty of myself, so no condemnation here from me!
Created For More
God created us for his glory (i.e. to show off what He is like, to be his agents (like his son Jesus) in the world. And these things above don’t help us do that, and in most cases they keep us from glorifying God because they glorify self. [clickToTweet tweet=”We were all created to be in a grace-filled relationship of love and acceptance with God.” quote=”We were all created to be in a grace-filled relationship of love and acceptance with God.”]
We were all created to be in a grace-filled relationship of love and acceptance with God. Nothing else will take the place of that. But we fill our lives with “lesser loves” either in hopes that it will, or under a delusion. It won’t. We were created for more.
Do I really love God? I think I do.
Getting Closer
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whenever you watch TV, movies, Facebook or sports, the next best time to do all to the glory of God, is now.” (That’s pretty close to 1 Corinthians 10:31)
Food for thought my brothers and sisters. What do you think the way forward for us is in all of this?
Question: How do you re-infuse specific activities in your life with a fresh sense of love for God and his glory? (Help!)
