For the Love of God: Part 1

(Below is an excerpt from my prayer journal. The entry is dated January 27, 2009.)

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."

-Mark 12:30


Father God,

It is so easy to get caught up in doing 'spiritual' things and so neglect my spiritual life. I've devoted a great deal of time to reading Christian books this past week; I've devoted a great deal of time to considering what to post on my blog and what to send out in the emails to my small group. But I've spent zero time praying and inquiring as to your will for it all. (Much to Satan's delight, I am sure.) Father God, how many times have you shown me that I can do nothing without you? All these works of mine are worthless if they are done for their own sake and not for the love of God.

When I think of my Christian walk, I tend to think of it as a journey leading up to some great thing that you have for me to do. But that cannot be the goal of my faith! You are the beginning of my journey, and so you will be it's end. Some great things may be accomplished along the way, but they must never be confused with the end itself. All I do must be done for the love of God. The whole point of this journey is to bring me perfectly into your presence for all eternity, not for my pleasure or profit, but for your glory.

"To be called to a life of extraordinary quality, to live up to it, and yet to be unconscious of it is indeed a narrow way." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I am not my own; I was bought at a price. You ransomed me from my captor, not because of anything I had done or could do, but because of your unfathomable love for me. Costly grace--bought with the blood of your Son--covers me. And so, again, Father, I am struggling. I want to do great things, but do I really want them done for your sake? Or is pride creeping up on me again? Do I desire to draw the admiration of men? Do I desire a smug sense of self-satisfaction? That cannot be my motivation for doing things in your name.

LOVE.

I let the word pulse in the air for a moment. Love for you is the purpose of each heartbeat, each intake of breath. If I do not love you above all else; if you are not the sole focus of my adoration, then there is no point in my life as a Christian. All that I do will be done emptily. And when I come before the throne of grace on judgment day, I will say, "Lord, Lord, did I not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?" (Matthew 7:22) And you will say plainly, "I never knew you." (Matthew 7:23)

The object of Christianity is not to rid mankind of it's irksome habits, or to tame us down, or to bring us into close fellowship and harmony with one another. All these things are mere side-effects of our pursuit of the object of Christianity: the love of God.

So this is my prayer, Father God. Though I am easily distracted and deceived, I pray that you will help me to love you with all my mind and heart. Though I am weak and sinful, God, help me to love you with all my soul and strength. Let me cling to the greatest commandment as my sole object in life... and let all the rest be 'added unto me.' As light is focused through a magnifying glass in order to start a fire, let all my thoughts, words and deeds be filtered through a lens of love, so that all I do may be done for your sake.

"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love."

-1 Corinthians 16:13 & 14