While I did just post a similar titled post earlier this morning, I realized that today was the first which is quite nice.
I started reading the book ‘The Four Loves’ by C.S. Lewis quite some time ago (apparently not the best of bathroom readings…), but picked it up again yesterday.
I’m still the intro, but as always Mr. Lewis has the deepest of thoughts to say even then.
On page two of my version he says, “Every Christian would agree that a man’s spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God.”
I once gave a sermon, mostly because I wasn’t prepared, on pursuing God harder. I shared this because I remembered being so scared cause I didn’t have anything to share that morning. And seeing the desperateness in myself to find something to share that, I was moved, well…convicted more than anything.
I know what it’s like to run after something with that kind of passion. I have a burning desire to be a Jesus to the people in Japan. Showing them His great love through this flesh that He has given me. The daunting task of getting my Japanese to the point of native fluency is overwhelming, depressing really. But the need to learn the cat. 3 language of Japanese lead me to take the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test), which is test that basically tells how much you suck at Japanese. I’m now waiting for the results for the test which come out this month. I will pass only by God’s grace.
Studying for this test was different kind of hell…
On top the other things I was doing that semester studying for a test I was not ready for was a light work out for a titan, and here I’m the guy that gets tired just watching chase scenes in movies.
But back to the point. It’s good to have a goal. Something we can see, even if it does seem unreachable.
I think most of miss the point of Jesus (or the Bible for that matter) when He talks about heaven.
I’ve I always thought of it as a place in some distant shiny universe where nothing exists, but the vague concept of “goodness” that comes with concept of heaven. We, I , miss the fact that Heaven is only Heaven, “good,” and a place we want to go to because of the very fact that Gods there.
But truth of the matter is that when Jesus came to earth to restore our relationship with God, He in turn also started “heaven” here on earth. The very essence of Heaven was brought to this sometimes detestable place, earth.
Being close to God is, it would seem sometimes, an impossible goal. But I guess what I’m trying to say is that since we’ve been given the gift of, quite literally, God. We’ve been given the goal (God), and the path (Love). Now we should just push hard towards Him.
