We are taught that we should love God and people with our all. We are also taught that everything that we say and do should be for the glory of God. We’re also taught that we are made in the likeness of God and are designed by God to reflect Him to the world. Since we’re made in the loving image of God, we love and love and love.
But we don’t just love God. We love many different things. Some love to work a lot and make a lot of money. Some love creating. Some love predictability and doing the same thing every day. Some love to plan ahead. Some love to go with the flow. Some love to talk. Some love to listen. Some love to write. Some love to read. Some love to work with their hands. Some love to crunch numbers and have minds that imagine and create great things. Some love sports. Some love music. Some love art. Some love people. Some love doing tasks. People are not right or wrong based on what we love. We’re just passionate about different things, and we have different preferences.
The challenge is that we easily become distracted and consumed with what we love. As one of my favorite worship songs communicates, “We become what we’re beholding.” And here’s the big question: How can we love God with our all and also love something else? Our minds cannot focus on two things at once. As soon as we focus on what we love…there we go. We forget about God and loving God with our all when we get passionate and good at doing something else that we love.
Whatever we become passionate and consumed with can take over our lives. To put it simply, what we love becomes our lord. Now you might be ready to throw the Terrible Towel at me and say, “Wait a minute, Glenn. I can love lots of things while Jesus is still my Lord.” But the slope sure gets slippery because the more time and energy and money that we invest in something, the more important it becomes to us. Because we get so easily distracted and consumed with what we love and care about, it can easily take the throne.
Being a loving and jealous God, He relentlessly pursues us in love, and He goes after anything that competes with Him for lordship. If you want a quick reference point, whatever you’ve been thinking about and doing all day could be competing with God for lordship. I remember a season in my life when I read everything I could get my hands on that Howard Hendricks wrote, and I went to hear him speak whenever I could. Prof used to say, “Be careful whenever you think your life is in balance, because you’re probably ready to slip on your next banana peel of excess while ignoring something of equal importance.” I remember when I finally got to meet Howard Hendricks in person. I asked him, “How am I going to juggle pastoring, family, and all of the people and things competing for my time?” He said to me, “The process of concentration is elimination.” Profoundly said!
Jesus said that we can’t serve two masters. We’ll love one and despise the other. But we sure do try to love so many different things and pack them into our busy schedules while thinking that Jesus is Lord of all. In his book All In, Mark Batterson said, “If Jesus isn’t Lord of all, then He isn’t Lord at all.” I believe that when I’m loving God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, then everything else that I love and do can become a fresh expression of Jesus’ love. But it’s so easy to get things out of balance.
That’s why I love how God keeps drawing me back to Himself and to His unchanging Word. He corrects, rebukes, teaches, encourages, and reminds me of His truth. He also uses the people around me to sharpen me, to hold me accountable, and to bring me back to God’s truth when I get distracted, forgetful, or off-course. My family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and clients all hold me accountable and make me better. “As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend” (Proverbs 27:17). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul said it this way, “Instead, we will hold to the truth in love becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of His body, the church. Under His direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” (Ephesians 4:15,16).
I want to keep my childlike faith and playfulness, but I don’t want to drift away and become consumed with lesser things. My friend and pastor, Arden Gilmer, used to say, “Things that matter the most should never be at the mercy of things that matter the least.”
My hope and prayer is that God will use my writing to encourage you and to challenge you in your faith. I pray that your boundaries are God-honoring and intact so that God and your family get your best instead of your leftovers. I pray that your relationship with Jesus grows and becomes more love-based and grace-based. And I pray that the love of Christ will flow through you as you daily represent Jesus to people who need to know that Jesus is alive and that He loves them.