I really love our church. For a ton of different reasons. But one of the main ones right now is the group of people between the ages of 12-20 who sit in the student section to my left every week.
They are crushing it. They stand up courageously for Jesus in this post-Christian, increasingly hostile culture. They are reading their Bibles, serving their church, becoming loyal friends and learning to lead. They are Christ’s disciples for real. Obviously not every single one, but a bunch of them, and oh sweet Jesus that gives me hope for the future!
So, the other day when we were singing, “Come Lord Jesus, Come,” I glanced over at them. And I recalled that when I was their age, I also wanted Jesus to return…but not quite yet. Not until… I’ll be brutally honest…not until I got married and could have guiltless sex.
Don’t laugh, I bet you thought it too. I have talked to lots of people who felt the same way. It’s a pervasive but wrong perspective. And now I can’t stop thinking with sadness about the high value we give to some things and the comparatively low value we give to the King.
Because literally I thought orgasm was better than God.
No one would ever say that out loud. But if you boil down my “please just wait till I get married to return” prayer, that is the heart of what I meant.
How many things of this world——good things even——do we prefer to God? Oh heavens, I am so, so guilty of this. Every day I make idols out of the good gifts from above.
Just look at the things that often distract me and keep me from my morning connection with God through prayer and reading His word:
- Sleep.
- Coffee with my husband.
- A text conversation with one of my kids.
- A new worship song in my Instagram feed. <– Let’s not think about the fact that I may or may not be looking at Instagram at 6:00 in the morning.
- Watering the flowers on my front porch.
- The orioles singing on my back deck.
- The smell after a spring rain.
- The colors of the sunrise.
- Ordering a new book about Jesus on Amazon.
- Looking at other new books about Jesus on Amazon.
All good gifts from my Father. Especially His lovely creation and the amazing humans He put in my family. Inexpressibly precious gifts. Yet I am supposed to worship the Creator, not His creation. So often I get that backwards.
Jimmy Needham, a speaker at Linger this year, boldly declared this truth:
“God is not just better than all the things this fallen world offers. God is better than all the things HE offers.”
God didn’t make anything on this planet that surpasses His own worth. He is more beautiful. He is more magnificent. He is more creative, captivating, and comforting. He’s better than a dazzling songbird, a great conversation, a beautiful piece of music, and yes even sex. It’s hard to remember because He’s invisible. And silent. And in Heaven. It’s hard to remember. But it’s true.
Do we really cherish Him like that? We have to become convinced ourselves so that we can actively convince our students that God Himself is better than anything. So we can confidently sing, “Come Lord Jesus, Come” and believe that the instant we see Him face to face,
“…the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”
Even so, come Lord Jesus. Amen.
