New Morning Mercies #96

Rejoice, the Lord who has redeemed you is worthy of your love and worship.

You should enjoy food because it is God’s gift, but if you love it, you’ll end up fat and unhealthy. You should be thankful for the money that God provides, but if you love it, you will find yourself a workaholic or in debt. Surely you should celebrate the pleasures and comforts that God puts in your life, but if you love them, you will soon be addicted.

Here is the spiritual reality that you need to know, understand, and live in light of —if you love the gifts and not the Giver, your heart will never be satisfied, but if you love the Giver, your heart will be content and you will be able to enjoy his gifts while keeping them in their proper place. Beneath this reality are even deeper spiritual realities. The first is that you need to understand that you were created to love. You don’t just love, you are a lover. Every human being’s life is a quest to find something to love and a quest to be loved. This means that you are always surrendering the affections of your heart to something. Whatever commands the love of your heart also shapes the direction of your life. But there is more to be said. You were also created to worship. You don’t just occasionally worship in moments of intentional and formal religious activity; you are a worshiper. You are always looking for something to which you can attach your identity, your hopes and dreams, and your inner peace. Whatever controls the worship of your heart controls your choices, words, emotions, and actions.

Now, because you are a sinner, it is very tempting to give the love and worship that you were meant to give to God and God alone to something in the creation (see Rom. 1:22–25). You take the affection, submission, and service of your heart that was meant to be reserved for the Creator and you place it on some created thing. We all do this in some way. So the desire for good possessions is not wrong, but it must not rule your heart. The hunger for comfort and ease is not ungodly in itself, but it must not rule your heart. The desire for the love of another person is not wrong, but it must not rule your heart. A desire for even a good thing becomes a bad thing when that desire becomes a ruling thing. Good things never result when love for and worship of the Creator are replaced by love for and worship of created things.

So what does grace do? Grace works to rescue you from you by progressively breaking your bondage to the created world and turning the deepest affection of your heart toward God. God alone is worthy of your worship. God alone is able to satisfy and bring peace to your heart. This work of rescue is not yet complete in any of us. Yes, by grace we love the world less than we once did and we surely love God more than before, but our hearts are still torn and our loyalties at points are still confused. But we need not fret, because grace will win and bring final rest to our worship and our love.

For further study and encouragement: 1 John 2:1–17