Do you have any food you love to eat for which you don’t have a cutoff switch? You can keep eating it and eating it and you want more and more. You go to bed thinking about it! You wake up thinking about it! When it comes to sweets, I don’t have a cutoff switch. I just want more!
Have you ever eaten an entire bag of M and M’s? Or a whole tub of ice cream? How about $500.00 worth of sushi and…you still wanted more?
Do you ever feel that way about your relationship with God? You just can’t get enough of God, you want more?
Now there are some side effects of wanting more and more of some foods, right? Increase! An increase of weight, cholesterol, blood pressure…you get the picture.
When it comes to God though, there are no bad side effects to having more – it’s all good. More is better!
I am not sure that all of us agree that more is better when it comes to serving Christ though. I think that many of us are happy with the portion we have and don’t want to get any more; it is good and that’s that. Some time ago I was having my morning devotions and praying through a list of needs that I have been asking God for; as I was praying through my list I heard the Holy Spirit whisper, you know you can ask for more. I don’t know about you, but I tend to not want to impose on the generosity of God. If I need $10, I ask for $10 not $100. But on that morning God was encouraging me, “You know you can ask for more. I have seen your heart and your motives, and I want you to ask for more.”
In keeping with my personality, I immediately started to ask myself some questions.
Why am I settling for good enough?
I think for me, I don’t want to presume on God’s goodness. I think that there is a limit to His goodness. I don’t want to be a pain in God’s posterior, the whiny, needy kid who is never happy with what he has. I don’t actually come out and say any of this because it sounds a little sacrilegious, but I unconsciously live it out, and I wonder how many of you can identify with that? Our actions point to a different set of beliefs than what we profess. Hmmm and ouch!
This begs another question – Does God feel that way about us asking Him?
He does not! What happens is that we have a wrong idea of who God is. We need to believe that He is good, that He is able and willing to do immeasurably more than we can ask or think, and that He loves us with a perfect love. He wants to give us more and He wants us to live in greater fullness.
Understanding that about God’s nature and character, I must ask one more question…
Why do I want more?
Why do I want greater blessings, greater provision, greater power? Ahh, the issue of motivation.
Do I want more because I am selfish, and I am simply seeking the pursuit of happiness?
Do I want more because I believe that more things bring me joy and fulfillment?
Do I want more so I can feel superior?
OR…
Do I want more because I have discovered who God is and what He wants to do in and through me to accomplish His purposes here on earth as it is in heaven?
I don’t think that the answer is a clear-cut either/or. I am human, therefore prone to selfishness. I am a child of God and I also have a desire to want more of Him. For me, I see it as a sliding scale.
As I walk in relationship with God…
Am I becoming more and more motivated by who God is and what He wants to do in and through me?
Am I becoming less and less egocentric?
Do I want to do what He wants increasingly more than I want to do what I want?
Take some time to ponder these questions.
Am I settling for good enough? Why?
What is my picture of God? Do I see Him as a good Father, do I see Him as a stingy, irritable boss, or…?
What is my motivation for the greater blessing? Do I want what is only in His hand or do I desire His heart?
Excerpt from Greater: Don’t Settle for Good When There’s Greater
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