Two Responses to the magnitude of God's beauty

Psalm 63:3
"Because your unfailing love is better than life- my lips will glorify you!"

God's love is better than life!!! His love is sweeter than honey. He is more satisfying than riches! He is more beautiful than the most beautiful thing in His created world! More grand... more intoxicating.
A sensory overload.

People have two responses to this concept of Christ being infinitely better than all we could imagine or experience on earth. The attitude of- Christ is greater than this pleasure- why would I enjoy this pleasure... If Christ is better than life- why live? If more satisfying than riches- why have money? How bout taking that to- if he is more enjoyable than sex, why have it at all?
OR you can have the attitude that Christ is greater! But BECAUSE He is greater- these infinitely smaller pleasures, within His written boundaries, are a joyful reflection of that.

Im sure I am going to do a terrible job conveying this concept... While at the (awesome) FOCUS conference in NC last weekend, Rick Holland gave a great sermon on enjoying things to the glory of God... especially youth before the light is dim and we are old and deaf and boring! ;) (no offense to my elderly readers! HA. If I have any elderly readers... O MAN.) He contrasted Ecclesiastes 11 and 12 with chapter 2... where at the end of the book Solomon promotes the enjoyment of things within God's bounds, and in chapter 2, he reminds that he sought out every form of pleasure to bring him happiness- and it was all meaningless!

Rick especially talked most beautifully about the Krispy Kreme donut. And how a Christian should be able to enjoy the donut FAR MORE FULLY than any other human being on earth. I don't even desire donuts and it made me want to go get one and revel in how great our God is magnified (telescopically) by eating it for His glory!

He also spoke about Jonathan Edwards. His #1 Resolve was "Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God' s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure..."
Doesn't this seem like a contradiction?
Not at all... because Edwards understood that God was the author of every single gift in His life! And that life was broken but enjoyable nonetheless.

Just read CJ Mahaney's book on Worldliness (shout out Jamie) and he also does a much better job articulating this than I can.
"Gospel centered living is grateful living. Whatever we do is to be done with thanks toward God. Whatever in this verse certainly includes entertainment. If we can't thank God with a clear conscience for a particular program or movie, we shouldn't watch it. But if we're wisely investing our time and watching something that is true, honorable, just, pure or lovely (Phil 4:8) then by all means we should thank God for it! We shouldn't watch sheepishly or with a vague sense of guilt but freely thanking God for the viewing experience. God is honored not only by us avoiding sin, but also by our active gratitude for the many good things he provides, including drama, cinematography, creativity, beauty, and laughter.

Eve was the first person to take God's words and distort them in this way... God COMMANDED that Adam and Eve ENJOY everything in the garden (within his bounds, abstaining from the tree of knowlege of good and evil) and she misquoted God by adding to his words- making her standards higher than Gods in chapter 3 verse 2.

Thank you Lord for being the author of pleasure and beauty and enjoyment, SO THAT we could be reminded of how great you are! May we never pursue these things as an end in themselves, but may they cause us to delight more fully in you, overwhelm us with awe and gratitude, and result in glory, honor, and praise on the day you are revealed! Please remind me of the true purpose as I enjoy and "love the life" (shout out Kata, Joe and Tracy) He has given me!

Wow that was long. ;)
Great sermon:
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1991/740_Sweeter_than_Honey_Better_than_Gold/

"Eat honey my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul." (Prov 24:13)

Physical Beauty VS. Spiritual Beauty

"People's standards, of course, differ. Usually, in things that do not matter, we set them impossibly high and thus guarantee for ourselves a life of discontent. In things that matter we set them too low and are easily pleased with ourselves." —Elisabeth Elliot

The Mystery- God USING things as HIS means

Honestly don't think I could be much more thankful than I am at this moment...

About a year ago Thanksgiving time, I was trying to share with my much older Jewish cousin about the Lord. A complaint that she brought up was that she was watching a show about a girl who couldn't get pregnant. She tried everything she could, and then finally took drugs and became pregnant. The lady on the show was like- 'We just really wanted to thank God for giving us these children...' My cousin was like- LADY GOD DIDN'T GET YOU PREGNANT... THE DRUGS DID. GOD COULDN'T GET YOU PREGNANT- THATS WHY YOU TOOK THE DRUGS.

A thought I have been tempted to think is that it is because I made myself look beautiful, curled my hair, and wore the right outfit... or was assertive about being in the right place, or because I baked him stuff.... that I met my most amazing boyfriend.

O the illusion of control... This is a never ending challenge, and it translates to SO many different areas of life. The problem is that I DO have to work and act in order to make things happen. At the same time- I couldn't do one darn thing apart from His magnificent grace!!!! LORD DO NOT LET ME FORGET THIS!!! Thank you Father!!! It is a total mystery to me how you have chosen to work. Thank you for allowing me a part and teach me how to see that appropriately.

"When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today." (Deut 8:10-18)

The PURPOSE of freedom

Exodus 4:22-23
"Then you will say to Pharoah, Thus says the Lord- Israel is my firstborn son. And I say to you, 'Let my son go SO THAT he may serve me."

Lord set me free from sin, bondage, foolishness, and myself so that I can be a more effective servant of You my God! I love that in the Old Testament everything was so outward. Often times a physical picture of a New Testament spiritual reality.

"I run in the path of your commands, for You have set my heart free." (Ps 119:32)

"Set me free from my prison that I may praise your name!" (Ps 142:7)

"If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!" (John 8:36)

"You have been set free from sin and become slaves to righteousness." (Romans 6:18)

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free..." (Galatians 5:1)

"For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant." (Hebrews 9:15)

"Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God." (1 Peter 2:16)

"To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen." (Revelation 1:6)