What was your biggest dream growing up? What did you aspire to be? Who was it that you admired so much that you wanted to be just like them? It seems natural for us to want to be known, or dream to one day see our name in lights. Our natural instinct wants self recognition, fame, and to be served by others. Besides, thats the example the world sets. Those who are rich and famous have all eyes on them and are served by the world. But have you ever heard of anyone who aspires to be a servant?
The people you admire tells alot about the condition of your heart. I know this because growing up the blueprint for my life was patterned to be self glorifying. Little did I know that i was being conformed to a world that was never intended to be my home. I was made in the image of my father in Heaven. But as the years of my life went by, I began to take on more attributes of the world. That image of Christ I bore as a child became hidden as I looked to other idols besides Christ. I said I was a Christian, but I would much rather read Sports Illustrated than the Bible. I said I was a Christian, but a muscle bound athlete or hollywood actor was much more of a draw for me than Jesus Christ.
I said that I was a Christian, but the desires of my heart betrayed my profession. Our faith goes much deeper than professing Christ with out tongues. It even goes deeper than our actions. If you want to see if you are truly in Christ, do as 2 Corinthians 13:5 tells us. Examine yourself. Examine the deepest desires of your heart.
-Look at what drives you! Is it being popular or making millions of dollars? Or is it reaching others for Christ?
-What excites you? Is it the newest video games or the latest fashionable clothes? Or do you come alive and excited to learn the ways of God?
-What is your greatest fear? Is it being unpopular or not accepted by your peers? Or do you fear people dying without Christ?
Our desires stem from where we spend the most time. You may read this today and wish for Godly desires but in reality hunger for things of the flesh. You may ask yourself, “Why dont I have more of a hunger for God?” The answer comes in where you devote the majority of your time. Thats why it is so important to spend time in the word of God. Not just read the Bible like its a novel, but to digest what you are reading.
We live in an age where any information we need is at our fingertips within the internet. If we have a question, Google is just a few clicks away. Utilize this technology when studying the Bible! Look up commentary on scripture, study the history of the times online, do an online search on your favorite Bible story and go deeper than just skimming the surface. God tells us that those who seek him with all of their heart will find him.
Have you ever played Hide and Go Seek? I remember as a child playing all the time. And there were times I was seeking to find the others for long lengths of time. Our neighborhood was big and I had to seek really hard to find my buddies. In the same manner we live in a big world. And there are so many things fighting for our attention to keep Christ hidden from us. To seek means to dig, and aspire to find him. Seeking is not just picking up the Bible and reading it for fifteen minutes a day so that we can say we spent time with God. Seeking God is desiring to know him. Seeking God is chasing after him. And the more you pursue God in this manner, the more your desires will begin to change from the things of this world to the things of God!
I claimed to be a Christian ever since I was twelve years old. And by the worlds standards I was. I had been baptised, I went to church, I said my prayers before bedtime and dinner, and I occasionally read my Bible so I could say I spent time with God. But it was all surface.
Three years ago I began seeking. Really seeking. And slowly a hunger grew inside me. An urgency filled my soul for those who didnt know Jesus. The famous men of this world that I once thought hung the moon began to pale in comparison to the man who created the Heavens. The more I learned about Jesus, the more I wanted to know about him. One of the first ways that I knew my heart was changing was that I had new role models in my life.
No longer did I pick up the latest people magazine and think how cool it would be to walk the red carpet. The men I wanted to be like now were different. They were unknown to worldly fame. They were not gracing the covers of the tabloids and the silver screen. They were not being served by the world. They were servants. Men like David Platt, Paul Washer, David Wilkerson, Leonard Ravenhill, Matt Chandler and so many more began to make such an impression on me. And they impressed me because they were on fire, unashamedly, sold out for Jesus Christ. And I wanted that. A Godly desire grew in me that was so much stronger than any selfish desire I had ever had. So much so that I began to seek on a daily basis.
Three years later God has led my family on an amazing adventure that is honestly just beginning. He led us out of our comforts into Central America to serve. And very recently, God answered a three year long prayer. That he would use me and my life in ministry to serve others for his kingdom. And this dream, this desire has been fulfilled in being led to serve along side the awesome people of Avon Park and Pastor Jon Beck. But this would have never been possible without me fully embracing the image of my father and casting aside the trifles of this world I once sought after.
There was a young man who grew up in northern China. His parents and family had very strong values and lived by traditional oriental ways. The men in his family kept their hair very short, they wore traditional Chinese clothing, and obeyed certain customs that had been in practice for many decades. This young man left his country as an exchange student when he was in his teens. When he arrived in the United States, he was an alien of sorts. The kids laughed at him for not wearing the named brand clothing they all had. Instead, he had his traditional Chinese clothing. People didnt accept him because of the way he spoke and the things he was interested in. They even ribbed him about his hair.
Slowly, this young man began to shed the traditions of his family. He became less and less of an alien. He let his hair grow long. He burned his traditional clothing and bought all the latest styles that were popular. He even abandoned his traditions because people thought they were weird and adopted American slang and customs in their place. After a few years he returned to his home country to visit his family. They were shocked at the man that had returned. He claimed to be a Chinaman, but no longer looked the part. He was now an unknown to his own family because he had abandoned their ways in exchange for a more acceptable lifestyle in the world.
Its not hard to see the correlation in this story. We are aliens in this world. This is not our home. But so many times, we abandon the ways of God in exchange for an acceptable lifestyle. We dont want to be different, we want to be like everyone else. But the truth is, if you are a true Christian, you are different. You are separate and set apart from the world. We can’t claim that we are followers of Christ if we look nothing like him and if we are more conformed to the world than to Jesus. Dont think that just because you said a prayer or have been baptised that you are a Christian. Dont think that just because you come to church you are saved. The Bible gives us a way to see if we are true in the faith. The apostle Paul tells us to examine ourselves. What are the desires of your heart? Seek them out and if they are worldly, cast them aside and seek Christ!! What do you look like in this world? Are you an alien in a strange land? Or have you blended in with your surroundings?
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.” Hebrews 11:13.
“Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears! For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers.” Psalm 39:12.
