Do You Mind?

 I didn’t do it, but I’m not sure what it was I didn’t do. I woke up this morning in that hazy twilight zone of having deep thoughts and wonderment.  When I was fully awake, I realized I couldn’t remember what I had thought and the implications of them. But here’s a bit of what did go racing through my mind that I recall, which in the opinion of my wife is kind of strange, but she loves me.

We humans are strange in how we arrive at conclusions. For example, our water is polluted and getting more polluted all the time, though we seem to be trying to clean it up. Our air, too, is quite bad. I will never forget the first time I flew into Los Angeles, coming down from way up in the crystal blue sky to a brownish orange sludge that was called “air.” It has gotten better but still we are making a mess of the air. Then we decide we need more concrete so we clear the forests and put in high rises that cast shadows on the bare ground and obstruct our view of the mountains and oceans.

We drink the water and get sick. We breathe the air and get sick. We clear the forests and there’s ugly all around us from their death. Then some genius accuses God for all this happening and wants to know what He’s going to do about it. Fortunately for us, God is very patient and very kind and simply points at the Cross where His son bled and died for OUR sin and asks, “What more do you want from me?” And of course we pull out our list and say, “I just want… .” And there’s your answer why the world is in the mess it’s in. As long as we "just want" our agenda to be done, things will just continue to grow worse.

Psalm 27:4  says this...

 

One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.

That’s one thing to put on my “just want” list. When our “just want” list compliments the purpose of God, good things happen. What kind of things? How about peace?  Wouldn’t you like to have more of that? Then there’s also the joy of knowing that what I’m doing pleases God since He is the one who inspired king David to write down what he learned (often the hard way).  

When you meditate on the words of the Bible and allow them to run through your mind you will find that you become more mindful of the Lord’s presence, that God is with you. It is He who puts the Holy Spirit in us so that we can be led on paths of righteousness so that we can walk with the knowledge that God is with us. We will live our lives better because who wants to hurt the God who loves us so deeply and perfectly? Being “mindful” is something our most ancient Christian brothers and sisters pursued and something that should be on your to-do list today.

How about this for an example of having God with you. I volunteer for the Billy Graham Organization and I answer email questions. One told me, “I am having trouble with lust and I look at a little porn.” I told him that the porn was food for his lust and to try this: Next time you sit down to watch porn, ask Jesus to look at the pictures with you and ask Him how He likes them. Can you imagine? 

So why do we want to meditate on God? Why do we want to see His beauty? Why do we want to know He is always with us and loves us. Here’s some reasons from Isaiah 33 and an especially wonderful promise:

15  The one who lives righteously

and speaks rightly,

who refuses gain from extortion,

whose hand never takes a bribe,

who stops his ears from listening to murderous plots

and shuts his eyes to avoid endorsing evil

16  will dwell on the heights;

his refuge will be the rocky fortresses,

his food provided, his water assured.

17  Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;

you will see a vast land.

Do you see what I see in those verses? Do you love the promise in vs 17? Do you see that the “just want” list is far inferior than simply wanting God? Our Lord Jesus is seated in heaven on a heavenly throne that defies my ability to comprehend its beauty from my earthly perspective. But one day I will be in that “vast land” where the beauty of the Lord is the standard to which everything is created and exists, and in that beauty I will see with my own eyes the God who loves me right now and awaits my arrival and walks with me every step I take on the way home. I don’t want to spoil that by “just want” nonsense.

I can’t remember the other “deep” thoughts, but evidently they weren’t that important anyway.