enjoyment...

I was listening to a sermon the other day as I was driving from MN to Kansas City, and the man preaching said, "If you don't enjoy what you do, it is purely religious, and God is about getting the religious spirit out of us, our churches, and our walk with Him." He went on to explain that God doesn't delight in service or sacrifice, in mere duty for Him, but that what He delights in is purely sharing in fellowship with us (Matt 9:13).

So immediately as I write this I hear the objections, "But sometimes we have to do things we don't like!" or "Not everything that is the right thing to do is enjoyable..." While I think those objections have some truth in them, I would ask you to consider it from a slightly different approach. What if your whole aim in your journey with God was to fall in love with the things He loves not for the sake of being more committed to the tried and true disciplines of the faith but that through friendship with God you actually start enjoying at the core of your being what He enjoys. And maybe you begin seeing that what He truly ENJOYS most is YOU.

I believe being a servant is a good and biblical thing, but I don't believe its the highest of what God is looking for in his people. What I believe is most dear to His heart is FRIENDSHIP. I think we as the church have lived mostly with servanthood and orphan mindsets because of the way we see God, that He's primarily a task-master who's most interested in us doing all these external pursuits of the faith (ex. evangelism, discipleship, etc). But here's the truth: God is "our Father" (Matt 6:9) and He invites us to crawl up in His lap and simply talk to Him as Papa ("Abba" Romans 8:15) from a genuine heart - throwing all the religious jargon, Christian-ese, and attempts to earn His favor in the trash and finally receiving His great love as beloved sons and daughters. My friends, don't ever forget that you are DEARLY LOVED...

If you've recently forgotten how loved you are, I wrote a little tune a few months back to remind myself and you of this beautiful truth. If you want, check it out at: http://bradytoops.bandcamp.com/track/he-loves-you-so-single