people never crumble in a day

September 19, 2010

A woman I greatly respect and admire once told me her testimony. She wasn't raised in a Christian home, and for non-christians, their sources of entertainment are dances, parties, and things of the like. She told me that after she believed in God and became a Christian, all of those things she use to do as entertainment lost their appeal. Well, even before she became a Christian, those things made her question if that was really all life was about, and as soon as she discovered and believed in God, those things lost their appeal and she spent her time pursuing passionately after God. I've heard so many testimonies from people who spent their pre-Christian days pursuing after secular fun: drugs, alcohol, parties, dances, etc., and as soon as God came into their lives, all those things instantly lost appeal or temptation to them, because as they explained to me, they had found something so much greater, infinitely better.

I was contemplating on this the other day. How their testimonies seem to be so opposite of what I see in my own life or the lives of others who have grown up in Christian homes. We've tasted and have always had what is infinitely better and more enjoyable in our lives, and yet the world with all its entertainment still holds such appeal, temptation, and allure to us. Why is that? Why is it that those who never experienced God, as soon as they do, pursue so passionately after their Savior, while we who have grown up experiencing and knowing God all our lives, dabble so much in such meaningless amusements when we could be spending that time dwelling in the word, in God's presence, etc. I'm not saying we should read the Bible and pray 24/7 (though that's kind of nice...), or that any fun that doesn't have to do with God should be avoided, but there are those activities which very obviously draw us closer to the world's standards than God's that I wonder why we allow ourselves to dabble in. Now of course, many (if not most) things that seem to be pretty apart from God could be said to draw us closer to the world's standards than God's, such as movies, video games, etc., but so herein comes discernment and wisdom from God. I will not go into whether those things should be dropped or not, but what I do want to talk about further on is this trend of us who have experienced God all our lives and yet who pursue after worldly pleasures and enjoyments. I've blogged previously before on how we settle for less, for mudpies, and how, at times, we do not allow ourselves to imagine what God's best could possibly mean for us because it'd mean we'd have to give up those mudpies we hold so preciously in our hands (The Allure of Mudpies). I used the following passage from "Weight of Glory":

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.” CS Lewis

Here again, I would like to discuss this passage, but this time musing on whether or not those who have experienced that holiday at the sea ever voluntarily choose to go back to mudpies or if mudpies still hold their appeal to them. The analogy is very obvious: would those who have truly experienced God's bountiful grace, mercy, and all-consuming love still be attracted to the lesser forms of entertainment, fulfillment, and enjoyment as offered to us by the world?

I honestly do not believe so. Those who have truly experienced and tasted, even but a little bit, will not and cannot be satisfied again by the cheap or fake forms of satisfaction that the world and the Devil tries to allure us with.

It is like what my friend said to me yesterday. A few friends and I were strolling around Jack London Square when we came upon a pastry shop. A friend bought a macaron, and offered some to another friend; she graciously denied it. I asked her why, and if it was because she didn't like macarons. She answered no. She liked macarons, but she's had macarons in France before, and they are so much better than the ones they make here that she just cannot eat or enjoy the ones made here anymore.

Her answer instantly made me realize how that is so true of our spiritual live as well. Once we have tasted and experienced God for all He is to us, for us, and through us, we can never go back to satisfying or fulfilling ourselves again with the cheap imitations of fulfillment and fun that we find in the world.

I believe (and CS Lewis speaks of this concept in his sermon "Weight of Glory") that within each and every one of us, God has placed an innate desire for Him within us. A desire that we so often try to fulfill by seeking after lovers, success, money, sex, alcohol, attention, etc, but we are always left unsatisfied. I believe that our innate desire for God has to be purified. It is so often hidden underneath a lot of our own junk, our wrong ideas/notions, and our pursuit after meaningless things. I believe though that the more we taste and experience of God, the more we are drawn into His presence and love, the more He will purify our desire for Him, and the less those mudpies will appeal to us.

When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I [grew up], I did away with childish things. (1 Corinthians 13:11)

As we grow and mature, as we experience God more, we let go of those things that once had appeal to us, and we look forward to pursuing after something infinitely better. We look forward to the intimate relationship we are pursuing after with God, we look forward to having him reveal his amazing truths to us during our quiet times with him, we look forward to him transforming our thoughts, our minds, our hearts after him, that we may truly begin to live the way he had created us to live.

It works the other way as well though. As the world continuously holds appeal and attraction to us, as we dabble our way into those cheap and fake forms of entertainment while convincing ourselves that we still have God, our love and desire for God can slowly dampen as we pile upon that pure innate desire for God with desires to have some fun or entertainment by the secular means. (I would almost want to argue that for those for which this happens, they have not truly experienced God yet, but have just retained a lot of theological or biblical knowledge, but that statement will require too much explanation and reasoning to fit in this post.) And so our spiritual lives slowly crumble as our desire for God dampens and becomes hidden again and we increase our pursuit of secular enjoyment.

It reminds me of the Casting Crowns song "Slow Fade." I've been listening to it for the last few days. I really like it. The song speaks on how people do not fall away from God and into sin in just a day. It is through a gradual compromising of our actions, our thoughts, our words that lead to the final result of us falling away from God.

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day

While it is talking about outright sins, I believe the concepts spoken about in this song also hold true for our spiritual lives and our continual pursuit after worldly things. We slowly chill that desire for God as we continuously allow ourselves to dabble in those things which will draw us away from God. And while we now may not see ourselves in danger or even ever imagine the possibility of us falling away, we must be careful.

Be careful if you think you stand
You just might be sinking (Slow Fade)

6Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. 7Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” 8Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. 9Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 10Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.11Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. (1 Corinthians 10)

May we reflect upon each decision, choice, or activity that we partake in in light of this, and may we learn to, in everything, pray to God for his wisdom and discernment in regards to even the daily tasks or hangouts that we choose to partake in, seeking his guidance and truths in regards to what we decide to allow into our lives or the lives of others.

May we take care to not let ourselves fall, to not let that desire for God within us chill and cool, but may we passionately pursue after God and continuously pray and seek for God to light our hearts on fire after him, to increase our passion, desire, and attraction to Him, that the rest of the world and all its cheap and deadly imitations of entertainment, satisfaction, fulfillment, and enjoyment may no longer lure or tempt us away from our God and Savior.