The Pursuit of God

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kindgom of heaven. - Matt. 5:3

Before the Lord God made man upon the earth He first prepared for him by creating a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and delight. In the Genesis account of the creation these are called simply "things." They were made for man's uses, but they were meant always to be external to the man and subservient to him. In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him.

But sin has introduced complications and has made those very gifts of God a potential source of ruin to the soul.

Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and "things" were allowed to enter. Within the human heart "things" have taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God is crowned there no longer, but there in the moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the throne.

This is not a mere metaphor, but an accurate analysis of our real spiritual trouble. There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets "things" with a deep and fierce passion. The pronouns "my" and "mine" look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant. They express the real nature of the old Adamic man better than a thousand volumes of theology could do. They are verbal symptoms of our deep disease. The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God's gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution.

Our Lord referred to this tyranny of things when He said to His disciples, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it."

Breaking this truth into fragments for our better understanding, it would seem that there is within each of us an enemy which we tolerate at our peril. Jesus called it "life" and "self," or as we would say, the selflife. Its chief characteristic is its possessiveness: the words "gain" and "profit" suggest this. To allow this enemy to live is in the end to lose everything. To repudiate it and give up all for Christ's sake is to lose nothing at last, but to preserve everything unto life eternal. And possibly also a hint is given here as to the only effective way to destroy this foe: it is by the Cross. "Let him take up his cross and follow me."

The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. These are the "poor in spirit." They have reached an inward state paralleling the outward circumstances of the common beggar in the streets of Jerusalem; that is what the word "poor" as Christ used it actually means. These blessed poor are no longer slaves to the tyranny of things. They have broken the yoke of the oppressor; and this they have done not by fighting but by surrendering. Though free from all sense of possessing, they yet possess all things. "Theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Let me exhort you to take this seriously. It is not to be understood as mere Bible teaching to be stored away in the mind along with an inert mass of other doctrines. It is a marker on the road to greener pastures, a path chiseled against the steep sides of the mount of God. We dare not try to by-pass it if we would follow on in this holy pursuit. We must ascend a step at a time. If we refuse one step we bring our progress to an end.

As is frequently true, this New Testament principle of spiritual life finds its best illustration in the Old Testament. In the story of Abraham and Isaac we have a dramatic picture of the surrendered life as well as an excellent commentary on the first Beatitude.

Abraham was old when Isaac was born, old enough indeed to have been his grandfather, and the child became at once the delight and idol of his heart. From that moment when he first stooped to take the tiny form awkwardly in his arms he was an eager love slave of his son. God went out of His way to comment on the strength of this affection. And it is not hard to understand. The baby represented everything sacred to his father's heart: the promises of God, the covenants, the hopes of the years and the long messianic dream. As he watched him grow from babyhood to young manhood the heart of the old man was knit closer and closer with the life of his son, till at last the relationship bordered upon the perilous. It was then that God stepped in to save both father and son from the consequences of an uncleansed love.

"Take now thy son," said God to Abraham, "thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." The sacred writer spares us a close-up of the agony that night on the slopes near Beersheba when the aged man had it out with his God, but respectful imagination may view in awe the bent form and convulsive wrestling alone under the stars. Possibly not again until a Greater than Abraham wrestled in the Garden of Gethsemane did such mortal pain visit a human soul. If only the man himself might have been allowed to die. That would have been easier a thousand times, for he was old now, and to die would have been no great ordeal for one who had walked so long with God. Besides, it would have been a last sweet pleasure to let his dimming vision rest upon the figure of his stalwart son who would live to carry on the Abrahamic line and fulfill in himself the promises of God made long before in Ur of the Chaldees.

How should he slay the lad! Even if he could get the consent of his wounded and protesting heart, how could he reconcile the act with the promise, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called"? This was Abraham's trial by fire, and he did not fail in the crucible. While the stars still shone like sharp white points above the tent where the sleeping Isaac lay, and long before the gray dawn had begun to lighten the east, the old saint had made up his mind. He would offer his son as God had directed him to do, and then trust God to raise him from the dead. This, says the writer to the Hebrews, was the solution his aching heart found sometime in the dark night, and he rose "early in the morning" to carry out the plan. It is beautiful to see that, while he erred as to God's method, he had correctly sensed the secret of His great heart. And the solution accords well with the New Testament Scripture, "Whosoever will lose for my sake shall find."

God let the suffering old man go through with it up to the point where He knew there would be no retreat, and then forbade him to lay a hand upon the boy. To the wondering patriarch He now says in effect, "It's all right, Abraham. I never intended that you should actually slay the lad. I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart that I might reign unchallenged there. I wanted to correct the perversion that existed in your love. Now you may have the boy, sound and well. Take him and go back to your tent. Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou bast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me."

Then heaven opened and a voice was heard saying to him, "By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou bast done this thing, and bast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is `upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou bast obeyed my voice.

The old man of God lifted his head to respond to the Voice, and stood there on the mount strong and pure and grand, a man marked out by the Lord for special treatment, a friend and favorite of the Most High. Now he was a man wholly surrendered, a man utterly obedient, a man who possessed nothing. He had concentrated his all in the person of his dear son, and God had taken it from him. God could have begun out on the margin of Abraham's life and worked inward to the center; He chose rather to cut quickly to the heart and have it over in one sharp act of separation. In dealing thus He practiced an economy of means and time. It hurt cruelly, but it was effective.

I have said that Abraham possessed nothing. Yet was not this poor man rich? Everything he had owned before was his still to enjoy: sheep, camels, herds, and goods of every sort. He had also his wife and his friends, and best of all he had his son Isaac safe by his side. He had everything, but he possessed nothing. There is the spiritual secret. There is the sweet theology of the heart which can be learned only in the school of renunciation. The books on systematic theology overlook this, but the wise will understand.

After that bitter and blessed experience I think the words "my" and "mine" never had again the same meaning for Abraham. The sense of possession which they connote was gone from his heart. Things had been cast out forever. They had now become external to the man. His inner heart was free from them. The world said, "Abraham is rich," but the aged patriarch only smiled. He could not explain it to them, but he knew that he owned nothing, that his real treasures were inward and eternal.

There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in the life. Because it is so natural it is rarely recognized for the evil that it is; but its outworkings are tragic.

We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety; this is especially true when those treasures are loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such fears. Our Lord came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.

Our gifts and talents should also be turned over to Him. They should be recognized for what they are, God's loan to us, and should never be considered in any sense our own. We have no more right to claim credit for special abilities than for blue eyes or strong muscles. "For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what bast thou that thou didst not receive?"

The Christian who is alive enough to know himself even slightly will recognize the symptoms of this possession malady, and will grieve to find them in his own heart. If the longing after God is strong enough within him he will want to do something about the matter. Now, what should he do?

First of all he should put away all defense and make no attempt to excuse himself either in his own eyes or before the Lord. Whoever defends himself will have himself for his defense, and he will have no other; but let him come defenseless before the Lord and he will have for his defender no less than God Himself. Let the inquiring Christian trample under foot every slippery trick of his deceitful heart and insist upon frank and open relations with the Lord.

Then he should remember that this is holy business. No careless or casual dealings will suffice. Let him come to God in full determination to be heard. Let him insist that God accept his all, that He take E things out of his heart and Himself reign there in power. It may be he will need to become specific, to name things and people by their names one by one. If he will become drastic enough he can shorten the time of his travail from years to minutes and enter the good land long before his slower brethren who coddle their feelings and insist upon caution in their dealings with God.

Let us never forget that such a truth as this cannot be learned by rote as one would learn the facts of physical science. They must be experienced before we can really know them. We must in our hearts live through Abraham's harsh and bitter experiences if we would know the blessedness which follows them. The ancient curse will not go out painlessly; the tough old miser within us will not lie down and die obedient to our command. He must be torn out of our heart like a plant from the soil; he must be extracted in agony and blood like a tooth from the jaw. He must be expelled from our soul by violence as Christ expelled the money changers from the temple. And we shall need to steel ourselves against his piteous begging, and to recognize it as springing out of self-pity, one of the most reprehensible sins of the human heart.

If we would indeed know God in growing intimacy we must go this way of renunciation. And if we are set upon the pursuit of God He will sooner or later bring us to this test. Abraham's testing was, at the time, not known to him as such, yet if he had taken some course other than the one he did, the whole history of the Old Testament would have been different. God would have found His man, no doubt, but the loss to Abraham would have been tragic beyond the telling. So we will be brought one by one to the testing place, and we may never know when we are there. At that testing place there will be no dozen possible choices for us; just one and an alternative, but our whole future will be conditioned by the choice we make.

Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but 1 do come. Please root from my heart all those things which 1 have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter avid dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Prove to me that YOU exist.

What evidence do I have that you are a person and not a computer program? Real rock solid concrete proof.

Prove that you are not a random occurrence of electrical impulses that generated a post on FR?

God is not a hypothesis. He lives. His Name is I AM. I've known Him for more than a half century and counting.

I tell you that I have a daughter, and you probably do not doubt me even though you'll never meet her.

If you want to meet God, humble yourself and pray. Read His words, starting with the Gospel of John - it is a love letter.

Prove to me that YOU exist.
What evidence do I have that you are a person and not a computer program? Real rock solid concrete proof.

Prove that you are not a random occurrence of electrical impulses that generated a post on FR?

WOW someone comes in and asks a question and gets this from a christian!

Someone pass the popcorn.

I ask you what solid concrete proof do you have that anything exists other than yourself? C.S. Lewis said that God was more like a ‘mind’ than anything else. A mind possesses thoughts. Can you see a thought? Measure it? Do thoughts exist?

Actually using EEGs and MRI's it is possible to see that a person is thinking.

The IBrain (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/ibrain-a-device-that-can-read-thoughts.html) does allow Dr. Hawking to communicate by thinking.

So the answer is yes you can see thoughts.

Prove to me that YOU exist. What evidence do I have that you are a person and not a computer program? Real rock solid concrete proof. Prove that you are not a random occurrence of electrical impulses that generated a post on FR?

Interesting approach to debate. I ask a question and am attacked.

But to answer your reply. Rene Descartes stated cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am.

Since I was able to be somewhat offended by your reply and then to reply in a manner that is both philosophical and provides evidence of analysis that should be enough.

Back to my original question. Can god's existence be proven?

I tell you that I have a daughter, and you probably do not doubt me even though you'll never meet her.

But I can. I can go to where every she may be and physically see her.

If you want to meet God, humble yourself and pray. Read His words, starting with the Gospel of John - it is a love letter.

How do you know that the Bible was written by god and not some con artists trying to pull a scam.

You can't say that god exists because he gave us the bible and the bible is proof that god exists. That is circular logic.

So why didn't you answer his/her question?

Interesting technique chastising me when you haven't given it a crack.

First off I wasn't asked.

Second I would not have gone on the offensive when asked a simple question and given a more charitable reply.

Third I am enjoying watching how you all (MIS)handle this.

NO, you cannot see thoughts.

You can detect the effect of thoughts on a machine, but the thoughts themselves are not material.

What about gravity?

Can you provide rock solid proof that gravity exists?

I’m sorry that you perceive it as an attack.

It is a valid question.

I no more *prove* that God exists than I can prove that anyone else exists.

Now, I have met some FReepers in person and know that they exists and I can tell you about that, but since you have not yet met them, how can I prove to you that they exist? All you have is my word that it’s so.

*I think therefore I am* may work as a proof for you, but it is not the kind of rock solid proof to me that you really exist. All I am responding to is a screen name on an internet forum, where nobody knows that you’re not a dog.

If you’re willing to accept philosophical proof of God’s existence, then the very existence of a moral code, a sense of right and wrong, the belief in the supernatural and a God or gods that is ubiquitous in mankind, can meet the criteria.

In my experience, God’s existence is explained in the work that He has done in my life. I have personal experiential evidence of His existence. Whether that’s enough to satisfy someone else, is another question.

Tell me how to validate His love for me and work in me in a way that is tangible to you.

A-G can introduce you to someone who CLAIMS to be her daughter, but is there ever really any way to PROVE that that is indeed her daughter?

Could she not fake the whole thing to mislead you?

In the end, all you have to depend on is various circumstantial evidence.

Much like gravity.

Interestingly, Scripture addresses those who do not believe and states that if someone does not believe the Law and the prophets, even if someone were to rise from the dead, they would be unconvinced.

Believing or disbelieving in God is not so much a matter of lack of evidence, because the world around us is filled with it, as much as a matter of the will.

There is nobody who denies its existence, and yet that existence is not because anyone has actually SEEN or TOUCHED gravitational waves, but knowledge of its existence is completely dependent on the effect it has on objects.

That is the only *proof* that anyone has about its existence.

How do you know that the Bible was written by god and not some con artists trying to pull a scam.

Because the words of God come alive within me when I read them. They are not like the words of men.

If you have ears to hear, you will hear Him. If you do not have ears to hear, you will not hear Him.

For instance, the people in the following verse were physically hearing Christ but they could not spiritually hear Him:

Why do ye not understand my speech? [even] because ye cannot hear my word. – John 8:43

How do you know that the Bible was written by god and not some con artists trying to pull a scam.

To what end?

What would they be hoping to accomplish?

Are you aware of the history of Scripture, the time frame over which it is written, the various authors of the different books?

How would you account for the cohesiveness of the Bible, massive work as it is, as a whole?

Have you compared it to other religious works? I've seen some of the other religious writings of others and they are juvenile in comparison and do not have the continuity and cohesiveness that the Bible does.

Ooops.... That got a little messy.....

I’m going to try it again.

A-G can introduce you to someone who CLAIMS to be her daughter, but is there ever really any way to PROVE that that is indeed her daughter?

Could she not fake the whole thing to mislead you?

In the end, all you have to depend on is various circumstantial evidence.

Much like gravity.

That is the only *proof* that anyone has about its existence.

Believing or disbelieving in God is not so much a matter of lack of evidence, because the world around us is filled with it, as much as a matter of the will.

>>Interesting technique chastising me when you haven't given it a crack.<<

Chastising? Simply asking you a question is in your mind chastising?

>>Second I would not have gone on the offensive when asked a simple question and given a more charitable reply.<<

How magnanimous of you! Yet here you are and still haven't helped the guy out by answering his question.

I'll give both you and him and answer. "an evil and perverse generation seeketh after a sign and a sign will not be given it".

First off I wasn't asked.

Well, you can hardly fault someone for THAT.

Second I would not have gone on the offensive when asked a simple question and given a more charitable reply.

And that would be what exactly?

Go ahead and indulge and show everyone up by answering the question better than they could as you seem to feel you can.

Third I am enjoying watching how you all (MIS)handle this.

Someone's soul could be on the line and you consider it ENTERTAINMENT?

What's wrong with you?

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