Not too long ago, and not for the first time, I heard someone say that “Until you do not have a care for this life and only desire to be with the Lord, you do not truly anticipate the return of the Lord.” As a Christian, I whole heartedly believe the Lord will return and on that great day He will put a final end to all sin, death, and pain. I yearn for the day this will happen! However, I cannot subscribe to the idea that any other desire cancels out the depth of one’s desire to see the Lord return. I personally feel that there are plenty who speak the fore mentioned statement, or something along those lines, in jest, but I have come across many who take this idea quite literally and I am writing this for my brothers and sisters in Christ who fall under the conviction of this statement. This is for those who have discarded ideas of working in their dream careers, starting families, and pursuing other various passions for this idea that they are only called to live in a way that anticipates the return of the Lord. There, of course, is a deeper issue at the heart of this matter, and that is the desire to be holy before the Lord. I want to encourage you with the Scriptures that you do not need to discard your other desires to uplift your passion for holiness.
Why
Do We Exist?
If we are to tackle this topic of not denying our
desires for holiness, it is imperative to understand the purpose of our
existence. The Bible gives us the answer.
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable
His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His
counselor? Or who has given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again? For
from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:33-36
We are made for God! All people from the creation of
Adam and Eve and their proceeding descendants were made for God that He would
be glorified through us. Even those who do not believe in Him have this
purpose.
What shall we say then? There is no
injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on
whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So
then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God
who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in
you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.” So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and
He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find
fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who
answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you
make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay,
to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common
use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His
power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon the
vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also
called, not from among Jews only, but also from among the Gentiles.
Romans 9:14-24
Why should we know our purpose before speaking on
our desires? As Christians we fully recognize that God made everything and
established what would be good for us. If we do not recognize the over-arching
purpose we are left wafting in the wind about how to approach our personal
desires. Now, that we have established that all men are made for God and His overall
purpose from the time of creation it is important to look at the creation of
man. Why? At creation man was created in the highest state of goodness he could
have on earth. He had not been separated from God’s goodness and therefore if
we can look at the aspects of how they were created to live we can see what God
would declare good for us even when living in His service.
The
Good Work of Man
What were the works of man when he was declared good? This is the essential question for those who want their desires to align with God’s desires. The account of man’s creation is found in Genesis chapters 1 & 2. Let us look at what was true for them in their lives.
1) Man was to obey the word of the Lord. (Genesis 2:16-17)
Throughout the establishment of man’s creation God established for man how they were to live. It was the law that would guide them. As such no matter what else man did it was to be in the service of the Lord just by the very life he lived. God also created a law with a consequence for breaking it. He commanded man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and if man did he would die.
2) Man was to work. (Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15)
God created man to work in the earth and rule over it, and it was beneficial to the wider world around him. God commanded man to rule over the earth, but also to tend (care for) it.
3) Man was to have community with others of his kind. (Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:18-25)
It was not good for man to be
alone. Man was surrounded by animals, and was even in good standing with God,
but this was not man’s community. That is why God created his counterpart.
Within the community of man he could find aid to help him live this life to the
fullest, and the community of man would further expand and be established
through the creation of families made by men and women.
The fall of man took all of these things and ended
them. Man would no longer care for the word of the Lord, and his first act of
rebellion was to break the law God gave to him (Genesis 3:-7). Man would choose
to be for himself and discard his community. We see this in the fact that he
placed blame on his wife and God for his sin when he was confronted about his
sin (Genesis 3:12). Man’s call to work would become a burden to him
(Genesis3:17-19). The very consequence of death had begun as man was
disconnected from the source of life, God, the moment he sinned against Him. Yet,
man is not completely hopeless for Christ came to save man, and all who have their
faith and trust in Jesus to save them from the curse of sin and death shall be
saved.
The
Desires of Christians
After the fall of man the laws that govern life did
not cease. Man would still work and establish families, but all is now under a
corrupt state. Family units are broken, some men choose isolationism, and men
hate each other for various reasons. Also, work is still quite the burden since
the curse fell on us, and we are poor stewards of the earth not good caretakers
as God designed. In regards to the law of God, man is in a constant state of
rebellion against God and chooses to live in foolishness and wicked depravity (Romans
1-3). The damnation of the sinner is assured, but for us in Christ the Bible
tells us this, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is
a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now
all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave
us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling
the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has
committed to us the word of reconciliation.” -2 Corinthians 5:17-19.
When it says we are new creatures, it is not that we are something other than
human, but that we are no longer separated from God our Creator. While on earth
though we are now in a position that pleases God, it is not because of our own
works but because of the declaration of God that we are saved in Him because of
the finished work of Jesus Christ who represents us who our faith in Him. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result works, so that no one may
boast.” –Ephesians 2:8. Adam brought to all of his descendants death,
but in Christ all who believe in Him have life as Romans 5 teaches us. Christ
is the God that man rebelled against, and He is our salvation. How do we know
He is our God and Creator? Keep in mind what we read in the Scriptures that all
things are from Him, through Him, and to Him. See what the Scriptures say about
Jesus in John 1:1-14.
In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All
things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being
that has come into being, in Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There
came a man whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the
Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came
to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the
world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made
through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who
were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave
the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who
were born, not of blood nor of the will of flesh nor the will of man, but of
God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Why do we need to remember Jesus is our God and
Savior and that it is by His work alone we are saved when we consider our
desire to be Holy before Him? It is because there is no further work to be done
to place us in right standing with God. The only way we can be right is to have
faith in Jesus and His finished work on our behalf to accomplish that salvation
for us. After salvation, we Christians will continue to struggle with sin, but
we have Christ interceding on our behalf and we cannot lose the salvation He
has given us (Hebrews 7:23-28, 1 Timothy 2:5). This is not a license for
licentiousness. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin through the reading of God’s
word. What is evil in God’s law is evil forever, and we should strive to do
what is good in God’s sight, and not because it will make us any more Holy but
out of an abundance of joy and love for our Savior who gave us the life that
was stolen from us in the fall of man. And doing good does not mean doing
anything extra spiritual beyond what the Scripture says. The Bible does not ban
marriage for the believer; it does not ban us from working in a good job. Now
what we do is to God’s glory. “Whether, then, you eat
or drink or whatever you do, do all things to the glory of God.” –1
Corinthians 10:31. God does not stop us from enjoying life, but we can enjoy it
more fully because we have the true Life as our Savior. Man in the highest
state we were created had the pleasure found in being in right standing with
God, living in community with others of his kind, and working. It was not an absence
of these things that put him in right standing with God. Why is it that those
of us who have been restored to life out of the curse of death believe God
would have us be without these things? There is not one Scripture in God’s word
that supports such a thought. In all actuality, the desire to get rid of a
desire is a Buddhist principal. God does not hold us to this standard. So if you
want to start that business, get married, join that hobby, work in a certain
field, pray for wisdom and do not be afraid to enjoy life.
“There is nothing better for a man than to
eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen
that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment
without Him.”
-Ecclesiastes 2:24-25
