“ENJOYING GOD”
“Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism.)
“Today, by God’s grace, I will choose to enjoy my work, being with my wife, being by myself, this lovely world, and God. I will choose to live in joy today!” (Twelve-step affirmation crafted by the author of this blog.)
Do I enjoy God? It’s a simple question, but my response is quite unsatisfying.
I suppose that some questions are unanswerable. Maybe those are the best questions. Still . . .
I went on line to make sure that I had the quote from the Westminster Shorter Catechism correct, and stumbled on the following site: http://www.reformed.org/documents/wsc/index.html?_top=http://www.reformed.org/documents/WSC.html, accessed 06-09-2017.
The site gave various Scriptures to support the idea of enjoying God: Psalm 16:5-11; 144:15; Isaiah 12:2; Luke 2:10; Philippians 4:4; and Revelation 21:3-4. So, I decided to look them all up. Of course, I got stuck on Psalm 16. It was a good kind of stuck.
The psalm begins with a plea to God for safety. However, aside from verses 1 and 4, this psalm is a gentle breeze of trust and delight in God. The whole psalm is only 11 short verses long, but it is as deep as the Mariana Trench.
Enjoying God is more than a bit difficult for me to get my mind around. However, I do know a bit about enjoying a good meal.
I enjoy my meals much better if I am hungry. And there are certain things that can help me to be hungry.
First, I have to be physically active. If I’m not, I could have my favorite meal, but not really enjoy it. If I am struggling to enjoy God, perhaps my first question should be, “What have I done for God lately?” Unfortunately, I am much more prone to ask what God has done for me.
Second, if I want to enjoy a meal, I need to be abstaining from junk food. I suppose you might define idolatry as “trying to satisfy your hunger for God with spiritual junk food.” I really like junk food, but it does tend to kill my ability to enjoy God.
Finally, meals are much more fun if I’m not eating alone. The companionship of others who are committed to seeking God helps me to enjoy God more.
Our pastor is asking members of life groups to send him testimonials about what membership in a life group means to us. I think this is one of the things that my life group does for me: It helps me to enjoy God more.
Recent Comments