Perhaps a useful preliminary question would be “What do you and I build our lives upon?” I hear the wish of many parents for their children being “I just want them to be happy!” Or perhaps your ambition was like mine in my teens, I dreamed of fame and fortune! Concerning happiness, if you are like me, if you look back and you ask yourself when were you happy, you will likely realize that during the happiest times you did not even know you were happy!
On the other hand, I can think of the times (before I was a Christian) when I was the unhappiest. During those times the lure of riches was the most intense. In other words, during that time I was looking to riches to bring fulfillment. But let me ask you, if you look at people who are rich and or famous, do you see that they are happy? Perhaps it’s possible, but I have not seen it. What I now believe is that happiness does not come as a result of pursing it, but that it is a byproduct of something else.
There is a saying that if you do not have something worth dying for, you do not have anything worth living for! There are many goals worthy of pursing, and they certainly provide a better foundation than the pursuit of happiness. My own goal for the fist 20 years of my Christian life was ministry. I took my value and worth from what I did for the kingdom. Looking back I can now see that I was a Christian workaholic, and in the end my pursuit left me empty and jaded. It did not fulfill my deepest longings.
I was a Christian, but my foundation was not Jesus Christ. My theology told me that He was my foundation, but my life did not reflect that. I knew my works would not get me to heaven, only what Jesus had done for me would do that, but looking back I can see that I was trying through works to earn acceptance in the church. Though I would have denied it at the time, what others thought about me was more important than what He thought of me. I can now see that I was essentially operating out of an orphan spirit.
What I needed was a revelation of the Father’s love. I am not just talking about an intellectual understanding that He loves me, but a deep experience of His love. And just as in a loving home the children are secure, so in an intimate loving relationships with God, we settle into the peace and grace and security that heals the orphan spirit, and brings healing and contentment and peace.
This did not come easy. I had to go through a second broken marriage and followed by a journey in and through some previous struggles that had never been healed to truly find Him. You do not know that God is all you need, until God is all you have. But when you come to the end of it all, you see truly that indeed there is no other foundation than the one He laid which is Christ Jesus!
Father, in the pain and or emptiness of our inadequate or false foundations I hear Your call “You will search for me and find me when you seek for me with all of your heart.” Keep me searching Lord because this will lead me ever deeper, and Father anyone who is reading this and feels something stirring in their heart, let them cry out to You, as You will surely lead and guid and answer. In Jesus Name Amen
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