GOD WANTS MORE FOR YOU THAN YOU WANT FOR YOURSELF
Sixty-five years ago the world was introduced to an instant classic by C.S. Lewis with the release of a much beloved book “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” Aslan, the Pevensie children and the land of Narnia have continued to be strongly loved with each generation since and have included six more books in the series by Lewis and various movie adaptations.
Lewis used the fictional books to introduce many people to Jesus, who was portrayed through the mighty lion Aslan. One characteristic of Jesus that is brought out in each of the books through Aslan is how he is not a tame lion. A good lion yes, but certainly not a safe or tame one.
This theme has struck a chord with countless readers because I believe deep down, if given the choice, we would prefer a safe, predictable, tame God over a wild, unpredictable one. And the reason comes down to trust and control.
With a safe, tame God then we have some control over our circumstances. We can begin to plan and predict God’s response to every situation based on what I do. I have heard the following ‘promises’ in various forms too many times to count.
“Struggling in your marriage? Then make sure you pray together, read your Bible, never go to bed angry and God will bless your marriage.”
“Are finances tight? They make sure that you are tithing the correct amount, are going to church and giving to all the right ministries and God will bless you seven times over what you could imagine.”
“Struggling with depression, anxiety or just feeling empty? Make sure you are doing your devotions, are praying and reading your Bible and are not committing any sins and then God will grant you the peace that He has been withholding because you have not been living right.”
They all share the common idea that if you live/do/perform right then, and only then, God will bless you. And who wouldn’t want this for a God since it would allow us the best chance to guarantee that I will find happiness and contentment in life, at least a life with the least amount of suffering.
Is this not the approach that we take with our physical health? Eat right, exercise daily, don’t smoke, get enough sleep and you will live a long healthy life. Until we are surprised at the health conscious person who gets a heart attack and dies in their 40’s and the fast-food eating, chain smoking, alcoholic that lives into their 90’s.
We cannot control our life, but even more we cannot control God. But thankfully God cannot be controlled. I say thankfully because God wants more for you than you want for yourself.
God is unpredictable and wild, and because we cannot predict with great certainty what circumstances we will have based on how we live, we may feel that God has failed us. That He has not kept us His end of the bargain – I live right and He makes sure that my life is mostly smooth and pain free.
God wants more for you than you want for yourself.
We tend to think small. We focus much of our thinking to our time here on earth. Who will I marry? What career will I have? How many children should I have? What car should I drive? Should I rent or buy a home? Do I have enough to retire? Where shall I retire to? These questions are important and deserve careful thought, but is that all there is to life? Of course not.
God wants more for you than you want for yourself.
God is working with the big picture in mind. He is more interested in your spiritual heart and your level of intimacy with Him because He knows nothing else will ever satisfy you the way He can. He knows that a relationship with Him is not a means to an end, but that a relationship with Him is the greatest end.
So He uses all things, the good, the bad and even the ugly, to lead us into a deeper experience of His love, comfort, hope and peace. But for us to experience this intimacy means we trust that His motives and heart towards us is in fact our best good.
And we can because, God wants more for you than you want for yourself.
In Christ who is our Life,
Ross