January 16, 2004

            My path frequently intersects that of some who confide that they really want more of God in their lives.  Sometimes there is almost a “haunted” look in their eyes as they share this desire for having a greater sense of God’s working in and through them.

            It’s amazing to me to visit with someone as they share this kind of desire and a thrill runs through me as I remember Jesus’ words in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him….”  In other words, when someone begins to wrestle with this “hunger for more” with God, I know that God is cultivating something fresh in that person’s life.

            It isn’t human nature to run after God, of course.  Human nature, by definition, drives us to live on a purely human level.  But God created us with grander themes in mind than for us to live our short lives only to perish into the dust, dragging all our hopes and dreams down with us.

            Instead, through Christ, He extends to us something that sounds too good to be true, since it is so foreign to our normal patterns of thinking.  He proclaims a great banquet of spiritual provision to us in 2 Peter 1:3-4 where He says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness.  Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

            Wow!  This One “Who calls you by His own glory and goodness” will give you, if you’ll trust Him, very great and precious promises!  As He calls you to KNOW Him (which, as that passage says, is how one taps into “everything one needs for life and godliness”), He extends to you an invitation to become a partaker in His own divine nature and no longer just “human nature”!

            A lot of the time, instead of looking at the great mural of wonder and hope that God spreads out before us, telling us the story of His enduring faithfulness from before the beginning of time, we’ll naturally get our eyes fixed on the proverbial tips of our proverbial noses... sort of like being spiritually cross-eyed.  And let us not forget those words of wisdom that so many of our mothers shared with us as we were growing up, “What’s the matter with you?  You want your eyes to get stuck that way?”

            Maybe you’ve suffered from being “spiritually cross-eyed”, having kept your eyes on your circumstances and your immediate priorities.  Maybe God is now giving you some of His perspective on your life and His love for you.  Perhaps He has even stirred up a new kind of feeling in you, a feeling of restlessness that you’re not quite sure how to answer.  Be aware that a feeling of dissatisfaction isn’t necessarily a bad thing:  it may well be God’s way of cultivating a deeper level of spiritual hunger in you.  In fact, know that the Lord passionately desires that you take your sights off what you once thought would satisfy you and “lock on” to Him.  His hands are poised to bless a heart that turns completely to Him.

            “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1-2).

(Thom Mollohan has ministered in southern Ohio the past eight years and is currently the pastor of Pathway Community Church.   He and his wife are the parents of three children.   He may be reached by email at pastorthom@pathwaygallipolis.com).