No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him. – 1 Corinthians 2:9
How big is your vision of what life with God could look like? Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that no matter how high our hopes are, God will exceed them. Can you imagine a perfect joy, a perfect peace? A perfect fulfillment in your life with no more striving? God has even better than whatever picture you just pulled into your mind.
But if this is the promise, then why is there still a gap between what we experience here and now, and what God promises?
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. – Matthew 13:44
Jesus tells his followers that in order to gain the kingdom of God, that wonderful treasure, one must sell everything they have. Is there a pet sin that you hold on to, simply because you have no vision of what better things God has in store for you if you were willing to give it up to Him? Or perhaps what holds you back is not sin, but complacency with where you have always been with the Lord.
It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. – CS Lewis
I have been watching some evangelism videos on YouTube lately. Many times a person gets stuck on the idea that God is telling them to give up their old lifestyle in order to enter the kingdom of God. The preacher is making God’s case, pleading with the person to be reconciled to God. But the conversation ends without a change of heart. The person does not believe that what God has to offer will be better than the lifestyle they are living.
In order to access the things God has in store for us, we must make room for Him by giving up any remnants of our old life. We are now in Christ, the old has gone and the new has come!
What might God be inviting you to leave behind today? What dreams do you have of a life full of joy and adventure with the Lord?
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. – Philippians 3:7-8
If fear is holding you back, ask God to ignite a vision in you of His surpassing worth! The more treasured and beautiful you see Christ, the less valuable all other things look. In Philippians, Paul says that everything else seems like rubbish compared to the joy of gaining Christ!
The treasure of God’s kingdom is such that no matter what gets taken away from you, God will never lose His loving grip on you. No matter what God is asking you to leave behind, in exchange He will give you an unshakeable inheritance kept in heaven for you.
He is no fool who gives away what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. – Jim Elliot
