A Meditation on Competing Desires
Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. ~ Psalm 90:14.
Starting last week, my wife and I have decided to memorize a verse per week for the year, taking the week to meditate on it. Here's some brief thoughts on last week's meditations.
It would be hard to argue with the following statement: Every morning we wake up with competing desires. We want to keep sleeping. We want to make it to work on time. We want a day off. We want to call in sick. We don't want to waste sick time. We are angry at our work schedule. We love that the weekend is coming.
And if we are Christians, we want to spend some time in prayer and Bible reading before starting the day. Some days this desire wins, and some days it loses. If for you, it always wins, you are more spiritual than I am.
It seems that there is, indeed, significance to the phrase "in the morning." If our day does start with a deep sense of satisfaction in the love of Christ; if our conflicted morning desires can be drawn to an appreciation of all God is for us in Jesus; if our cranky attitudes can early be repented of and early turn to joy in our Redeemer, my guess is that our days would be better.
Now, some Christians talk as though morning devotions were magical. Do your devotions, and you'll have better days. This is ultimately not true, in the way most Christians seem to mean (whether through poor wording or poor theology). Bad stuff will still happen in your day. Your boss will still yell at you. You'll still be stuck in traffic. Your child or spouse will still get sick. Someone will still get cancer. These things keep happening, regardless of your morning "quiet time."
So let me clarify. I'm not talking about a simple reading of the Daily Bread so you have a better day. I'm not talking about an "if...then" deal we make with God. I'm talking about finding a deep and peaceful contentment in our hearts and minds in the steadfast love of Jesus. Not only is it our only hope for joy, but it is also the only hope for those enslaved, whether knowingly or not, to sinful desires. When the world around us sees us satisfied with Christ's steadfast love, even in the face of ridicule at their hands, they are then confronted with the only remedy for their sinful state: the steadfast love of Jesus. It will introduce to them their only hope, which will, by the grace of God, compete with their present desires, overcome them, and draw them joyfully to Jesus.
Starting last week, my wife and I have decided to memorize a verse per week for the year, taking the week to meditate on it. Here's some brief thoughts on last week's meditations.
It would be hard to argue with the following statement: Every morning we wake up with competing desires. We want to keep sleeping. We want to make it to work on time. We want a day off. We want to call in sick. We don't want to waste sick time. We are angry at our work schedule. We love that the weekend is coming.
And if we are Christians, we want to spend some time in prayer and Bible reading before starting the day. Some days this desire wins, and some days it loses. If for you, it always wins, you are more spiritual than I am.
It seems that there is, indeed, significance to the phrase "in the morning." If our day does start with a deep sense of satisfaction in the love of Christ; if our conflicted morning desires can be drawn to an appreciation of all God is for us in Jesus; if our cranky attitudes can early be repented of and early turn to joy in our Redeemer, my guess is that our days would be better.
Now, some Christians talk as though morning devotions were magical. Do your devotions, and you'll have better days. This is ultimately not true, in the way most Christians seem to mean (whether through poor wording or poor theology). Bad stuff will still happen in your day. Your boss will still yell at you. You'll still be stuck in traffic. Your child or spouse will still get sick. Someone will still get cancer. These things keep happening, regardless of your morning "quiet time."
So let me clarify. I'm not talking about a simple reading of the Daily Bread so you have a better day. I'm not talking about an "if...then" deal we make with God. I'm talking about finding a deep and peaceful contentment in our hearts and minds in the steadfast love of Jesus. Not only is it our only hope for joy, but it is also the only hope for those enslaved, whether knowingly or not, to sinful desires. When the world around us sees us satisfied with Christ's steadfast love, even in the face of ridicule at their hands, they are then confronted with the only remedy for their sinful state: the steadfast love of Jesus. It will introduce to them their only hope, which will, by the grace of God, compete with their present desires, overcome them, and draw them joyfully to Jesus.
posted by Travis Prinzi @ 9:25 AM
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