Loving Jesus...

I'm still reading "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. It's going slowly because, as usual, I have too many books going at one time! But I came across a few things that made me stop and think. (His book does that a lot!)

He quotes John Piper from his book called "God Is the Gospel":

"The critical question for our generation-and for every generation-is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?"

Francis Chan talks about his Grandma Clara who was "madly in love" with Jesus. He said, "Every morning Clara would kneel by her bed and spend precious hours with her Savior and Lover; later in the day, just the sight of that corner of her bed would bring joy-filled tears and a deep anticipation of the next morning spent kneeling in His presence."

The chapter begins with this prayer:

"O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long." A.W. Tozer-The Pursuit of God

This is certainly something I need to pray about and work on. Living in this world can really dull our senses and take our eyes off of the One who means everything.

Shalom...