Being at camp this past week has reminded me how much joy there is in dwelling on Christ. My job allows me to be in a position where I am learning about what it looks like to actively love God and live out that love by serving others. And it has reminded me that focusing on Christ and not ourselves enables us to live in such a state of indomitable joy. As was said about passionate Christ-follower, politician, and social reformer William Wilberforce: "By the tones of his voice and expression of his countenance he showed that joy was the prevailing feature of his own mind, joy springing from entireness of trust in the Savior’s merits and from love to God and man…His joy was quite penetrating.” (Piper, 57) This is how God desires us to live – He knows looking to Him and not ourselves is what is best for us! This is why, I believe, the psalmist says that the one thing He desires is to gaze upon God in His temple, and to inquire after Him. Notice nothing is said about himself, about figuring out his life or inquiring after his salvation…his one desire is just to see God. I think that’s because God knows that this is what will fill us with the most joy. Every once in a while we as humans get that, as the psalmist did, and do what God desires us to do most, that which He knows will make us most joyful: we seek Him. We inquire after Him and not ourselves. As Piper quoted Wilberforce, self-denial is “…a means to the highest pleasures…” but “Pleasure and religion are contradictory terms with the bulk of nominal Christians.” (Wilberforce)
Unfortunately, as Wilberforce noted in the previous quote, our culture – and our human nature – are not very good at equating focus on God with joy. Denying ourselves and looking to Christ are not always seen as bringing us joy – often, they are seen as things we have to do to obtain eternal salvation, but not as things that bring us joy here and now. But as we’ve seen from Wilberforce and as many of us, like the psalmist, have experienced at moments in our own lives, true joy is known the more we look to God and to His glory rather than focusing on ourselves. We were created to love and worship our holy God, and the more we do that and deny our selfish nature, the more joyful we will truly be. Focusing on God and not ourselves enables us to “…see all the good in the world instead of being consumed by one’s own problems…” (Piper 60)
When we make it about ourselves, we tend to make Christianity “…so much a system of prohibitions rather than of privileges and hopes, and thus the injunction to rejoice, so strongly enforced in the New Testament, is practically neglected, and Religion is made to wear a forbidding and gloomy air and not one of peace and hope and joy.” (Wilberforce p.62)
True joy in our salvation comes not when we are absorbed in worrying about ourselves, our future, our salvation, but when we just look to Christ and His beautiful, indescribable glory….and as was noted about Wilberforce, it is this joy that will attract others to Christ – not a gloomy religion, but a joyful peace in constantly looking above this world to our Savior. It is this joy that will also lead us “from love to God and man…” Looking to Christ more and ourselves less will not only bring us true joy, but it will help us better love and serve others as Christ did, and as He desires us to as His people.
Our purpose is not to know Christ simply so that we may gain eternal life – but the more we focus on ourselves, the easier it is for us to think that Christ’s sole purpose and our sole purpose in knowing Him is to figure out what happens after this life. Rather, our purpose is to know Him for His glory, so that He may be known to others through us. He died so that we might become like Him and better love and serve others so that His glory might be seen by them and they might know Him as well. The more we look at Christ and dwell in His throne room, thinking and focusing on Him and not our own will, the more we will grow into Him, into having this mindset. From looking at Him, His glory will begin to reflect off of us to others. The more we look at Him, the more we will become like Him – living like Him and loving like Him.
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