Tag: enjoy God

Day 3 of Enjoying God: Beauty

~ K ~ 1 Comment
A sample "before"---it truly looked worse than this!

I went to the hair salon tonight with my hair looking “a hot mess” (as the slang goes). I haven’t been taking care of it for the past month like I should because I’d been too busy working two jobs, kept rescheduling my appointment, and was too depressed to keep it up on my own. But my hairdresser knew none of that. All she knew was that my hair looked awful and was in dire need of repair. When she was done, my hair looked amazing. She did a job I could have never done on my own. I had to rely on her skilled hands to craft a disaster into something beautiful. (You know where I’m going with this, right?)

After!

 

God does something similar albeit on a much bigger scale and with more important things than hair. God sees the disaster of my natural heart with its sinful jealousy, strife, grumbling, and bitterness, and somehow takes that, cuts away the ugly layers of who I am to craft me into someone beautiful.

  • Someone who cares more about others than herself
  • Someone who thinks twice before gossiping
  • Someone who tries to do things for others because it means so much to them

In paying attention to the everyday, seemingly mundane things and moments of my life, I am finding ways to know and enjoy God. Who knew that God could use something as superficial as a well-coiffed hairstyle to remind me how supremely beautiful He is… and how only He can make me divinely beautiful?

Day 2 of Enjoying God: Jealous God

~ K ~ 1 Comment

jeal·ous [jel-uhs]
–adjective

  1. feeling resentment against someone because of that person’s rivalry, success, or advantages (often fol. by of ): He was jealous of his rich brother.
  2. feeling resentment because of another’s success, advantage, etc. (often fol. by of ): He was jealous of his brother’s wealth.
  3. characterized by or proceeding from suspicious fears or envious resentment: a jealous rage; jealous intrigues.
  4. inclined to or troubled by suspicions or fears of rivalry, unfaithfulness, etc., as in love or aims: a jealous husband.
  5. solicitous or vigilant in maintaining or guarding something: The American people are jealous of their freedom.
  6. Bible. intolerant of unfaithfulness or rivalry: The Lord is a jealous god.

Lately as I’ve been convicted by my burgeoning jealousy on a number of things, I am reminded of my jealous God—not in the sinful, human sense but in the Biblical sense as in definition number six above. But I think His jealousy also ties into definition number five: the Lord is vigilant in guarding the hearts of his people.

How in the world is this part of enjoying God? Well, the things I’ve been desiring haven’t been bad or sinful things, but my attitude toward not obtaining them has been wrong.  Then I think of how God is jealous for me—in the pure and righteous sense—vigilant in guarding the affections of my heart and intolerant of anything that leads my heart away from Him. Recognizing this forces me to repent of the temporal things I have been jealous of and turn myself toward the eternal God.

A wife who is jealous of her husband (or vice versa) isn’t a bad thing. It’s right for spouses to be intolerant of unfaithfulness. And likewise, so it is right for the God of the universe to demand (actually, He commands) all of my affection and competing with nothing else.

In my opinion, it’s nice to be loved and wanted that much.

Day 1 of Enjoying God: Quality Time

~ K ~ Leave a comment

It’s not on my previous list of attributes but I’ve discovered a way to enjoy God is to look for His image in people.

Today, I learned that the God of the universe is a quality-time God. Spending time with my husband, family, and friends is always a delight. I enjoy spending time with them even if I’m simply in their presence, not talking but watching a movie or performing some other task. I cherish the moments I spend with them and simply enjoy being around them. That’s the way God is. He wants us to draw near to Him as He draws close to us.

So, that’s one aspect I’ve learned about God: He loves quality time.

365+ Days of Enjoying God

~ K ~ 2 Comments


Since joining the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) in 2007, I have been meditating on the answer to the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

Q: What is the chief end of man?

A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

There are two parts to this answer: (1) glorify God, (2) enjoy Him forever. I’ve never been baffled much by the first part but the second part has always left me stymied. From my February 2010 entry:

I know how to enjoy His creation but enjoying Him is an entirely different matter.

Recently, it dawned on me: the way to enjoy God is by knowing Him and having an active, personal relationship with Him.

How do I enjoy the people I care about? I enjoy them through their qualities or attributes and not necessarily the things that they do for me (contrary to how I often approach God). For example, I enjoy being around my husband and spending time with him because he’s funny, smart, and kind; not necessarily because he brings me a latte when I want him to (although that IS a bonus).

As a result, I realized the way for me to enjoy God (and fully understand the second part to the first answer of the catechism) is to know, see, and experience God’s attributes and who He is in relationship to me. Here is a Biblical list of some of God’s attributes (with the help of The Navigators website): Continue reading “365+ Days of Enjoying God” →