It's 10:25 at night and we've had a big day of preparation. Preparing for the big holiday of Thanksgiving tomorrow. We've baked apple cakes, prepared the big family breakfast in advance for tomorrow, and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned! But in the midst of all the housework and cooking and everything else a family has to do, we fell a tad short of our goals. My wife is incredible in everything she does and she did so much for me today and our family. And since we have company coming over at 8 am, we can't put it off to finish another time. So, I'm taking the late shift, brewing up a stout cup of tea, and finishing the work load myself. (Well, I took a short break to blog)
I actually was excited to do this tonight. Not so much that I'd get a couple minutes to do some writing or even a moment of independent thought from the hectic day, but that I've begun to notice God is incredibly attracted to doing lovely things for others. He really likes it. And anyways, this all goes back to years ago. So years ago, I made the connection between good character traits, like selfless acts, pursuing someone, loving without expecting anything back with my love affair with Jesus and my love affair with my wife very quickly after we first met. My wife was attracted to me because of these spiritual traits she saw in me, and that's exactly what God is attracted to in us. Here was a question I pondered for awhile: If we are living in a love affair with God, then why is so much of the Bible (especially the New Testament) about bettering our hearts to be more like Christ? Why an 1100 page tome with only 1 book gushing about God's utter desire for intimacy with us (Song of Songs) and a lot of the rest about making our hearts like his Son's? Why not an 1100 page romantic thriller? The reason we have not figured it out is the same reason this guy below is carrying a murse (man-purse) to make himself more attractive to some poor woman out there (at least I hope that's why he's carrying it. lol):
The reason we miss the point with God in beautifying our hearts and our character traits is the reason why these guys miss the point. Women aren't attracted to men the same way men are attracted to women. In fact, improving your physical appearance is not the #1 thing a dateless dude can do to find his true love. It has a lot more to do with your heart than how much you bathed in Axe body spray this morning (again, at least let's hope that's true. There might be hope for this world then after all! lol) The heart of a Godly woman is attracted to the same thing the heart of God is attracted to. What is that? It's the fruit of the Spirit, it's 1 Corinthians 13 (remember the whole discourse on love and faithfulness). That's why the beatitudes in Matthew 5 and everything else Jesus talked about when he gave us the ethics of his Kingdom are so important. It's what he is attracted to, what he desires in us. How wonderful in relationships is bountiful knowledge in ecclectic topics like "Not Worrying About Tomorrow" (Matthew 6 :25-34) and "Judging Others" (Matthew 7:1-6) and "Pursuing The One You Love" (Matthew 7:7-8). This is good stuff! And then, when we are perfected when we are brought home to him and those attributes are fully in us, then true, true intimacy can occur with him. That's when we will finally be married to him.
“In that day,” declares the LORD,
“you will call me ‘my husband’;
you will no longer call me ‘my master.' Hosea 2:16 (NIV)
God desires to be one with us. A oneness and tenderness and passion far surpassing any intimacy on earth. This is where we are going with our lives, with everything we are, our bodies, our souls, our minds. We are going to be enraptured into a diving romance where our Lover never stops blowing us kisses or quits adoring us body and soul, always whispering in our ears how much he loves and desires us. Us loving him with everything we are (fulfilling the first great commandment-worshiping our God with all our soul, mind, and strength). The Spirit chose the loveliness of the intimacy of a bridegroom and bride to describe the joy and intimacy and oneness with our Spouse when we are brought home to him to be his forever. And when we see him, we will only be able to exclaim, 'How beautiful you are, my Darling! Oh, how beautiful!' (Song of Songs 4:1)
And we will live happily ever after in his adoring arms :)
I actually was excited to do this tonight. Not so much that I'd get a couple minutes to do some writing or even a moment of independent thought from the hectic day, but that I've begun to notice God is incredibly attracted to doing lovely things for others. He really likes it. And anyways, this all goes back to years ago. So years ago, I made the connection between good character traits, like selfless acts, pursuing someone, loving without expecting anything back with my love affair with Jesus and my love affair with my wife very quickly after we first met. My wife was attracted to me because of these spiritual traits she saw in me, and that's exactly what God is attracted to in us. Here was a question I pondered for awhile: If we are living in a love affair with God, then why is so much of the Bible (especially the New Testament) about bettering our hearts to be more like Christ? Why an 1100 page tome with only 1 book gushing about God's utter desire for intimacy with us (Song of Songs) and a lot of the rest about making our hearts like his Son's? Why not an 1100 page romantic thriller? The reason we have not figured it out is the same reason this guy below is carrying a murse (man-purse) to make himself more attractive to some poor woman out there (at least I hope that's why he's carrying it. lol):
The reason we miss the point with God in beautifying our hearts and our character traits is the reason why these guys miss the point. Women aren't attracted to men the same way men are attracted to women. In fact, improving your physical appearance is not the #1 thing a dateless dude can do to find his true love. It has a lot more to do with your heart than how much you bathed in Axe body spray this morning (again, at least let's hope that's true. There might be hope for this world then after all! lol) The heart of a Godly woman is attracted to the same thing the heart of God is attracted to. What is that? It's the fruit of the Spirit, it's 1 Corinthians 13 (remember the whole discourse on love and faithfulness). That's why the beatitudes in Matthew 5 and everything else Jesus talked about when he gave us the ethics of his Kingdom are so important. It's what he is attracted to, what he desires in us. How wonderful in relationships is bountiful knowledge in ecclectic topics like "Not Worrying About Tomorrow" (Matthew 6 :25-34) and "Judging Others" (Matthew 7:1-6) and "Pursuing The One You Love" (Matthew 7:7-8). This is good stuff! And then, when we are perfected when we are brought home to him and those attributes are fully in us, then true, true intimacy can occur with him. That's when we will finally be married to him.
“In that day,” declares the LORD,
“you will call me ‘my husband’;
you will no longer call me ‘my master.' Hosea 2:16 (NIV)
God desires to be one with us. A oneness and tenderness and passion far surpassing any intimacy on earth. This is where we are going with our lives, with everything we are, our bodies, our souls, our minds. We are going to be enraptured into a diving romance where our Lover never stops blowing us kisses or quits adoring us body and soul, always whispering in our ears how much he loves and desires us. Us loving him with everything we are (fulfilling the first great commandment-worshiping our God with all our soul, mind, and strength). The Spirit chose the loveliness of the intimacy of a bridegroom and bride to describe the joy and intimacy and oneness with our Spouse when we are brought home to him to be his forever. And when we see him, we will only be able to exclaim, 'How beautiful you are, my Darling! Oh, how beautiful!' (Song of Songs 4:1)
And we will live happily ever after in his adoring arms :)
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