You sit
uncomfortably in the pew and stare at the piece of dirt on the top of your shoe
as the pastor assures you there is one more person who needs to raise their
hand. "With all eyes closed and all
heads bowed" Your conscience is
screaming at you from within but you don't want to be honest with
yourself. You have a vague idea of the
chain of events that might follow you separating your clasped fingers and
pushing your right hand through the heavy air within view of the pulpit. You don't let your mind wander toward a
future containing the possibility of telling your family a sudden change of
lifestyle, admitting that habit you have been trying to kick, maybe even
quitting your job and moving to Africa or something. You concentrate as hard as you can on
absolutely nothing until the altar call is over and you are free. Subconsciously you make a determination as to
what is in your own best interest. You
decide that you will be better off in the long run by ignoring what might be
the voice of God at this moment. We've
all done it; the only reason I can describe this situation is because of how
many times I've sat in that pew myself.
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Whether you are the
person who made it through the altar call without giving in or a missionary in
Cambodia I want to assure you today that God always has your best interest in
mind. Remember that story about Abraham
with his arm raised high holding a dagger ready to plunge it into the heart of
his son? Imagine what he thought the
outcome of following God's voice would be in that scenario. God told him to kill his son. Not really the kind of command you consider
to be in your best interest; or anyone's best interest for that matter. Abraham had no idea how that could possibly
work out for good; it must have seemed that God just hated him for no reason
and was asking him to ridiculous things in order to torment him. He did it though, and what happened? God stopped his hand at the last second and
Abraham became one of the most blessed dads to have ever walked the
earth.
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Our problem as
humans is not that we seek happiness.
Everyone wants to be happy, peaceful, significant, and loved. That's not the problem, the problem is that
we are too finite to know what brings happiness. We think that one more beer will make us
happy, we think those extra hours in the office will lead to happiness, we
think if we just ignore God's call and sit quietly in that pew a few more
minutes we can build our own safe life and smile as big as the people in the
advertisements. We don't get it. How could following Jesus possibly be in our
best interest? How could forgiving your
sister, loving terrorists, giving away your money, admitting your dark secrets,
going to church, or dying to yourself bring you happiness?
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My favorite parable
in the Bible answers this question.
Jesus said a man was digging in a field and he discovered a buried
treasure worth millions. He immediately
quit that job, sold every last possession he owned and purchased the field
where he found the treasure. It wasn't a
sacrifice to sell all of his stuff, he never had more fun at any garage sale in
his life. He was making a comparably
small investment to get an insanely large return. The treasure is the kingdom of heaven, it is
what God has in store for you, it is what God wants you to take, it is the joy,
peace, love, and fun that you want for yourself. The man's possessions is your life. Your ambitions, pride, reputation, time,
money, your will. It is not a sacrifice
to give that stuff up, it's a tiny investment for a gigantic payoff, and you
will find you have never had more fun in your life in the process of hawking it
despite what may appear to be persecutions, hardships, and prickly
obstacles. You have to trust that God
loves you and knows better what will make you happy than you know.
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Sometimes we act
like a bird flying into a glass wall trying to get the seeds on the other
side. God is yelling out from above
"fly around it, there's a door right there!" as we ram our head again
and fall on the ground angry and confused.
We believe, maybe this time lying to my spouse will work, maybe judging
that girl will work, maybe rejecting that altar call will work. We want to be happy we just don't know
how. Good news! God knows what is best for you, he has a
detailed plan to get you there, and he really desperately wants you to take it. Whether it's your conscience, a Bible verse,
or the words of a preacher, you know deep down what God's will is for you. God loves you way more than you love
yourself, and I assure you, if it's from God, it leads to happiness, freedom,
and life regardless of how it appears from your perspective at any given moment.
