As far as joining the majority of America working a 9-to-5, I am not doing that right now. But I'm realizing (again) that life is not about my circumstances; it was about my heart when I had the job, and that still is the central issue now that things have changed. It’s not about your circumstances either. It is about your heart because it is the wellspring from which all else flows (Proverbs 4:23)—your outlook on life, your daily attitude, your priorities, goals and dreams. Your heart governs how you spend your time, energy and resources, and what you believe about things like family, right and wrong, justice, and “the great beyond”. That’s why God is after your heart. You can do a lot through will power, but when your heart is moved there’s an otherworldly power released... something kinetic; it’s called love, or desire. Our understanding of romance and longing (even lust, to a degree) is a dim picture of what beats in the heart of God, and it is a taste of what He wants to beat in your heart toward Him.
He wants your heart to be moved, but not just in any direction. He wants you to be moved toward Him because you are famished in a good way. He wants you to take the hunger that resides in your heart and pursue Him with such tenacity that it makes onlookers jealously uncomfortable, stirring them into the same pursuit. In Thomas Dubay’s book, "The Evidential Power of Beauty," the subjects of hunger, fascination, and pursuit are eloquently considered.
"You and I, each and every one of us without exception, can be defined as an aching need for the infinite. Some people realize this; some do not. But even the latter illustrate this inner ache when, not having God deeply, they incessantly spill themselves out into excitements and experiences, licit or illicit. They are trying to fill their inner emptiness, but they never succeed, which is why the search is incessant. Though worldly pleasure seeking never fulfills and satisfies in a continuing way, it may tend momentarily to distract and to dull the profound pain of the inner void. If these people allow themselves a moment of reflective silence (which they seldom do), they notice a still, small voice whispering, Is this all there is? They begin to sense a thirst to love with abandon, without limit, without end, without lingering aftertastes of bitterness. In other words, their inner spirit is clamoring, even if confusedly, for unending beauty. How they and we respond to this inner outreach rooted in our deep spiritual soul is the most basic set of decisions we can make: they have eternal consequences."
“From one man [God] made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”
—Acts 17:26-27, NIV
The Lord has an enormous plan in the works, and it all springs from His desire to welcome you into eternal love. He determined every miniscule detail about your life, including where and when you would make Earth your home. Class status, race, height, gender... He planned it--all so that you would search and find Him. It is imperative that this generation understand the bigger picture—experiencing the fullness of God—so that during this age and the age to come, you will find Him just as the heroes of the faith have. They lived their lives to interact with and experience His endless depths. In the same way, you are invited to feel, experience, trust and be moved by God. Everything that comes your way—every glory and every pain—is for the purpose of going deeper in your pursuit of Jesus, falling deeper in love with Him.
Job or no job, this is bigger than my current circumstances. He is after my heart. He wants me. Will I allow my circumstances to drive me into His love even more? Or will my heart become one degree colder, darker and harder? May He grant grace. And may I accept.
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