God is far far better than anything we can imagine. He is far better than anything we can possibly accomplish or amount to in this life. Our works are like filthy rags to Him. He doesn’t need us, and seeking life anywhere other than in Him will lead to emptiness and disappointment.
I find this beautiful, however, for God is not a merciless Father. He is a great and wonderful Father. He knows what we need. Who are we that we try to find life in seemingly everything except Jesus. It cannot be done. He has created us to Know Him and to worship Him. We don’t deserve to even think about Him, but through His grace and by His death and resurrection, we now have access to Him. We can come to Him in boldness, knowing that He is listening and that He will draw near to us when we draw near to Him.
How can this be? The God and creator of everything draws near to us..
Please think about that. Take time to think about that wonderful and unbelievable truth.
But it’s natural for us to search for life in the temporal. For some reason we continue to slip further and further into the fleeting, wide open path of hidden destruction that leads only to death. We are faced with the fact that Jesus has conquered death and now offers us true life and we say, “no thank you. I’ll take it from here.”
My friends, I don’t want to do this any longer. True love for Jesus is birthed out of realization of who He is and who we are. When we see that He is our only hope, that without Him we are literally worthless, hopeless and utterly helpless, we see that our ability to follow Him is the most amazing thing we could ever have. Experiencing His true grace and life is like nothing else.
We can experience true life that is provided only by our one savior Jesus.
Romans 2 says,
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (vs. 12, ESV).
1 John 2 says,
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away with all its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (vs. 15-17 ESV).
This world does not offer "the good life." A life surrendered to Christ, however, is the ultimate life. It's the good life for eternity. God knows exactly what we need, and He knows that what we need most is Himself. The world is a trap. It draws us in and somehow makes us think we can find satisfaction in chasing whatever dreams we may have while we’re here, but our Father tells us that none of that will satisfy. He shows us that what lasts and what is truly fulfilling is Him alone. Life is found only in Him. The warning to not love the world is an antidote for the sickness and emptiness of this world. It is not a message of tyranny, but of hope and joy. God tells us that we don’t have to live for this world. We don’t have to try to make it on our own. He’s got it. He tells us to come to Him and live for Him instead and find real satisfaction that can be found absolutely nowhere else.
Our job now is simply to surrender all to Him. He already controls everything, and He is a good Father. Why resist? He takes us for who we are, dreams, mistakes and successes, and calls us His own. He gives us true life, real life, real identity. We don’t have to be defined by what we can or can’t accomplish on this earth. We can obtain a heavenly, eternal identity from the creator of the universe that will pardon us from every way the world attempts to trap us and pull us down with it. We can have true freedom in Him.
Let us not be half-hearted in our quest for God, in our daily seeking of His kingdom. Let us rather take on every day with His strength and use everything He has given us, every passion and gift, to bring glory to His name, surrendering everything to Him because He is our only hope.
Jesus says in John 10,
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (vs. 10 ESV).
He came and He died for us so that we don’t have to try to live for this world and what it deceivingly attempts to offer us. He came so that we can experience true life and forgiveness that He gives and the grace that we don’t deserve. Jesus is our only hope. He calls us to Himself and promises to be all we need, always.
Live surrendered to Him every day, and find true fulfillment in Him alone for eternity. The good life we seek is Jesus. In Him only do we find true satisfaction, grace, life and peace.
