crave

This post is something I've had on my heart for a while. I finally feel like I have the words to explain it all.
The last series at my church was titled "CRAVE." The question Noel always used to ask toward of the sermons was, "What do you crave?" During the offering after the final week in the series, my fiance leaned over to me and jokingly asked, "So, what do you crave?" I couldn't tell if he was being serious because his tone led me to believe it was some-what mocking... just sighed and said, "A lot."
Which is true, unfortunately.
So I made a list. I crave:
-a job that pays money
-moving back to Lansing
-getting married
-watching ridiculous t.v. (a.k.a. numbing myself)
-clothes, shoes, things...
-being in full-time ministry
-being in full-time ministry overseas...

And why do we end up with all of these cravings?
It finally hit me.
I have been so idle- I haven't been filling myself up on the Word of God, on time with Him, on encouraging words and people who push me on in my relationship with Him. I've been leaving myself to starved and empty that of course I run to all of these other things to fill me and it just leaves me craving...
There are warnings all over Scripture against idleness- idle hands and idle words. Even the wife of noble character [Proverbs 31:10-31] does not eat the bread of idleness (and if I really want to be a good wife to my future husband someday, I'm not exactly headed in the right direction...)

So after my conclusion, and after discovering the true desires of my heart (obviously, not for the things I crave, but for my LORD and Savior to be my joy and my delight), I have been trying to be more intentional about what I am filling myself with. Filling myself with the Word and not endless hours on Facebook or watching Gossip Girl. (both completely fine things in moderation) Taking time out of my day for prayer instead of numbing myself with shopping for things that I don't need.
I'm working on it, but I've still got a long way to go.

"Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever."
[1 john 2:15-17]

Amen.

glory

I'm always taken aback by the part in God's story where Moses tells God, "Show me your glory!"

First of all... seeing God's glory is a pretty big deal. No one has ever seen God this side of heaven in all His glory and lived. All of the awe His glory inspires... I definitely understand wanting to see it, but the other part of that event that blows me away is that Moses didn't even ask... he just said, "God, show me your glory!" It's more of a demand than a question.

Who in their right mind would demand God to show him that? Demand God, the creator of the universe and everything in it, to show him (His servant) something that no one on earth had ever seen and lived to tell about it because it's that magnificent... Moses obviously had the cajones to do it.

The question is why don't we?