Speaking of love..
Remember that song we sang in Church "Better is one day in your Courts than a Thousand Elsewhere"?
It comes out of Psalms 84 where the Psalmist also says; "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked (vs10)"
To translate that into our modern times... I would rather take on the role of a servant, working at minimum wage and having little in life but have access to the House of God... than to be the big man on campus partying in luxury with fame and fortune... but not know the presence of God.
Can you think of anything you love a thousand times more than anything else? (besides your wife)..
I love chocolate... but do I love it a thousand times more than anything else? No. I love hockey.. but not a thousand times more... same with football.. I love Ohio and PVChurch.. I love that feeling when you're getting to bed so late and the day was so exhausting that your body is falling asleep before you get it to the bed. I love snow. I sort of love the Browns... :)
But what can you identify that you love a thousand times more than all else?
Earlier in the same chapter he says; "My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord.." Again.. what can you identify in your life where you can say you are literally on the verge of fainting in anticipation of?
Yet these words are not the random words of an unusual Psalmist. They are intended to present what the desire for God's presence looks like in us. There is something for us that is so intense and amazing that once tasted, we are driven to the point of being faint at just the thought of having it again. And that one thing... is the presence of God.
The only difference between the writer of Psalms 84 and us today - is they were limited to God's presence through the physical visitation of His Temple.. where as we of the New Covenant under Christ become the physical Temple and are filled endlessly with the presence of God.
Can you now imagine traveling back in time and having the opportunity to tell the man who wrote these words that after the work of Jesus at the Cross... this one thing that he treasures a thousand times more than anything else in life, fills our lives directly and in overflowing measure... 24/7?
I've been in parts of the world where people line up for several hours to enter a store in the hopes that there will actually be something on the shelf. If there is, they can take every cent they earned that week and turn it over for one loaf of bread, or one can of beans. With tears I have watched those people hurry home alive, excited, themselves having tears but of joy because they can bring something home on that day. Now imagine telling them you have a pantry in your house stocked to overflowing with everything you ever might want... and you can simply walk through your kitchen into your walk-in pantry at any time of day or night and just take anything you feel; like.
Imagine the thoughts and feelings that would run through that person.... but let me ask you.. for those of you who do have a pantry, do you ever find yourself hurrying back to the kitchen excited and rejoicing? It's your pantry.. you have it all day long.. you get things from it all the time.. When you grab something out of it, you walk back to the kitchen thinking "nothing of it".
Is it possible for us to take the presence of God for granted to the point where we think "nothing of it"?
Asking myself that question the other day broke me a little bit. I will tell you I am guilty of taking the presence of God for granted. I always say a prayer of thanksgiving each day I arrive at the Church... thanking God for one more day in this amazing favor and blessing.
Sunday is my favorite day of the week... so I am thankful. But yearning to the point of almost passing out? Thinking of God's presence as something I love a thousand times more than anything in life?
Occasionally I put this challenge out to everyone... I feel I should do so again today. Before you read the Bible today... place it on a table open... stand a few feet away and stare it until a new revelation comes over you like a cloud of what it is you are looking at. Before kneeling and praying to God.. stand in that room in quietness for a few moments reflecting on what you are ACTUALLY ABOUT TO DO.. and only once a vapor of living fresh revelation flows through you, kneel and begin.
This Sunday... before you get out of your car to enter the Church... stop for a moment and consider what this represents. Don't get out of the car until you see it, hear it, feel it. Don't enter the Church until you feel overwhelmed with the unimaginable favor you've been given. Don't enter the sanctuary until your heart starts to fill with a revelation of what is actually about to happen. Don't stand to sing until you see an open heaven before you... Jesus standing at the right side of the Father... Don't give anything in the offering until the power and preciousness of what you are doing in that moment becomes apparent. Don't listen to the Pastor - play video games on your phone or read a book - until your heart opens in the knowledge of what is being spoken in those moments.
I'm hoping no one actually passes out this weekend :) But I'm also imagining what Church becomes when we all gather together with our hearts beating, our mind reeling... almost fainting with the desire and passion we have for what is about to take place.
And hey... as a bonus; the kids from our PV Kids ClubHouse have made everyone a gift for you to take home after the service :)
For valentines day, our children want to tell all the adults how much they love us unconditionally !!
Soooooooooooo much good and amazing things happening right now .. See you
Sunday
