Finding Satisfaction in Your Season

This is my first post of 2018, so before deciding what to write about, I took some time to reflect on some of the notes that I had taken in my journals throughout the past year. I quickly ran into a page of reflection on a popular passage found in Matthew 16, which says:

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul. Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?’” [Matthew 16:24-26, NIV]

God stirred my heart with this passage. I have probably read or heard these verses a hundred times, yet this time God used them to provoke a deeper appreciation within my heart.

God currently has me in a season of purposeful growth. Through prayer and scripture, I recently felt the Lord calling me to intentionally clear away distractions – social media, any type of dating pursuits, and other time consuming and distracting practices – in order to focus in on what He would like to do within me, individually.

It has been difficult, but I am already seeing the fruits of this season in bulk. I am amazed at how much God has been able to reveal to me in such a short period of time. By guiding me to rid my heart of those distractions, God has a created space in which He can work in and through my life constantly.

Because of this, as I read the passage in Matthew 16, I was able to see the words of Jesus in an entirely new light. In verse 24, Jesus tells his disciples that following Him requires one to deny himself fully, and willingly choose to hand over the keys to Christ. This seems so difficult, and it is.

But…

It is followed by a promise that is so powerful, and so beautiful, and so often underappreciated.

“…whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

This is a direct promise from Jesus to you – that if you make the decision to pursue God’s will alone, you will find LIFE. There's a common misconception in today's society that tells us if we follow Jesus, we'll be missing out on what life has to offer -- but the opposite is true.

Jesus makes this very clear in John 10:10, where He says that the purpose behind His coming to earth is that we "may have life, and have it to the full." Yes, this means salvation and eternity in heaven, but Jesus' promise for life also applies to our time on earth. John Eldredge writes about this promise in Waking the Dead:

"Jesus doesn't locate his offer to us only in some distant future after we've slogged our way through our days here on earth. He talks about life available to us in this age. So does Paul: 'Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come' (1 Timothy 4:8)."

Jesus' promise for life starts the second we choose to accept it. But the contrasting lifestyle can be tempting.

We live in a world that offers so much. Think about it. Our culture offers sex… money… power… fame and esteem… pleasure. All of these things have the ability to distract – to force us to take our eyes off of Christ for just one second, and begin to pursue pleasure over purpose.

It is there, that we as Christ followers tend to form ideas regarding how we can make exceptions. I cannot tell you how many times I have attempted to split my energy between pursuing God and pursuing the world. It is so easy to adopt the false idea that we can have a taste of both, and be equally satisfied. When, in reality, the attempt to pursue both eternal purpose and temporary pleasure only leads to exhaustion and discouragement.

A.W. Tozer says,

“The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation.”

This idea of “God-and” is a profound one, and should guide us to some true self-examination. As I looked at this quote, written beside the previously mentioned passage in Matthew, I reflected on my own pursuit. What is my “and”? What are the things in my life that I’m seeking that aren’t God? This is a tough question to ask yourself, and it’s even tougher to answer truthfully… but it is so necessary.

As I reflected further, I thought about why we feel the need to add things to our pursuit of God. I came to the conclusion that we tend to look for temporary satisfaction outside of our journey with God, because we fail to see the immediate work that He is doing within our hearts in the season that we are in.

I love what C.S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity:

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

Lewis is speaking of the pain and confusion experienced as God works upon our hearts -- our souls. We often do not understand what is going on, because we were expecting a small, steady, and paced reconstruction; but instead we are met with a massive, purposeful reformation of the heart.

It is so easy to mistake seasons of growth as seasons of waiting.

What I mean by this, is that we are often unaware of the direct purpose and action that God is placing in our hearts during a season of growth, because we think that He is only preparing us for the future, and not also working in the present.

As I have been in this season of intentional, personal growth, God has called me to apply for a summer job that would take me miles out of my comfort zone. He’s also called me to reach out to a friend about starting a Bible study. In addition, He’s allowed me to find joy in Him that has rejuvenated my attitude, and thus my relationships, with my parents, brother, and a handful of friends.

Yes, all of the work that God is doing during this season is preparing me for what’s to come. It’s shaping me for what He has planned for me in the next season of my life… but it’s also providing me with purpose and action to take right now.

While I continued through my notes on this passage in Matthew, God placed another question in my mind: What about the good things that we desire to pursue – the things that come from God? Godly dating relationships, community, friends to experience life with – all of these desires are good – but God began showing me that the process by which I find these things is of the upmost importance.

I have found that when I allow my pursuit of God to be the setting in which I experience these secondary desires, the relationships and community that arise reveal themselves to be focal pieces of the plan that God had already prepared for me.

In other words, God knew my desires before I knew them, and He guided me to each of the desires of my heart that aligned with His, only He did it in HIS timing. As we seek God solely, He allows us to experience the goodness of Godly relationships and fellowship with others who are on the same path in pursuit of Him.

Psalm 107:9 says,

“For He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.”

Be grateful for the season that God purposefully placed you in, and rest assured that as you pursue Him, He will bring satisfaction and good things to your soul.