I have been asking myself: Do I love God - no strings attached?
Or, do I love God only when he gives me things?
Those are key questions for people who pray - indeed, for any follower of Jesus. It helps determine how we pray and why we pray.
What prompted these thoughts was something author Peter Lord wrote in his book Hearing God:
"If God gave you nothing but himself, would you be satisfied? The answer reveals whether you are loving God for himself or what you hope he will do."
Our pastor touched on this in a sermon today, saying he was frustrated with God after praying for something that was vital for his son and there was no answer. And the next day, he prayed again and found what his son was desperately searching for.
The point he was making was that his mood - and even attitude - changed depending on whether God gave him what he sought or not. I have felt the same way many times.
But our pastor underlined that God had not changed. He is always the loving God we see in the scriptures.
How do we know what God is really like?
Our pastor pointed to key verses in the gospel of John including:
We can be transformed when we realize that God is not a condemning judge but someone loves us and leads us and guides us through life.
Hannah Whitall Smith, one of my favourite authors, calls this the "unselfishness of God". In one of her last books, she wrote that it took her a lifetime to realize that God is "really and fundamentally unselfish, caring not at all for himself, but only and always for us and for our welfare".
She came to this conclusion after seeing that Jesus was the exact image of the Father. And Jesus said himself that he came into the world to serve.
So what do I take away from this?
It makes me look at the world around me in a different way. I can see Jesus even in the hard things of life.
I am just starting a regular prayer journal devoted only to short items of praising God and brief notes of thanks for the everyday things that God has brought into my life - even for the little black dog running joyfully around the golf course. God is at work everywhere.
I will still pray for things. But my attitude will change.
I want to love God without strings attached.
Or, do I love God only when he gives me things?
Those are key questions for people who pray - indeed, for any follower of Jesus. It helps determine how we pray and why we pray.
What prompted these thoughts was something author Peter Lord wrote in his book Hearing God:
"If God gave you nothing but himself, would you be satisfied? The answer reveals whether you are loving God for himself or what you hope he will do."
Our pastor touched on this in a sermon today, saying he was frustrated with God after praying for something that was vital for his son and there was no answer. And the next day, he prayed again and found what his son was desperately searching for.
The point he was making was that his mood - and even attitude - changed depending on whether God gave him what he sought or not. I have felt the same way many times.
But our pastor underlined that God had not changed. He is always the loving God we see in the scriptures.
How do we know what God is really like?
Our pastor pointed to key verses in the gospel of John including:
- "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30); and
- "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." (John 14:9)
We can be transformed when we realize that God is not a condemning judge but someone loves us and leads us and guides us through life.
Hannah Whitall Smith, one of my favourite authors, calls this the "unselfishness of God". In one of her last books, she wrote that it took her a lifetime to realize that God is "really and fundamentally unselfish, caring not at all for himself, but only and always for us and for our welfare".
She came to this conclusion after seeing that Jesus was the exact image of the Father. And Jesus said himself that he came into the world to serve.
So what do I take away from this?
It makes me look at the world around me in a different way. I can see Jesus even in the hard things of life.
I am just starting a regular prayer journal devoted only to short items of praising God and brief notes of thanks for the everyday things that God has brought into my life - even for the little black dog running joyfully around the golf course. God is at work everywhere.
I will still pray for things. But my attitude will change.
I want to love God without strings attached.
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