What are you pursuing? This is a question that we may be too quick to answer without seriously asking ourselves “what exactly am I pursuing?” If you are a Christian your first answer would probably be “I’m pursuing Jesus.” That would be a theologically correct answer, but I wonder if that is the true answer for most of us. We can often think we are pursuing one thing but in reality that thing is just a means to a greater end. To illustrate this let’s look at something we all wish we had a bit more of “money”. If we were honest most of us would say that we want money. But I question, does anyone really want money? I don’t think so. We all want what we think money can give us. Some of us may want money because of what it can buy us, some want it for the security they think it will provide, some may want it for the respect or power we think it will give us. Whatever the reason, I have never met someone who wanted money regardless of what it provides. Most people think they are seeking money, but in reality they are seeking something else, they just feel that money is a means to getting whatever it is they are really seeking. The difference is that money is a means to an end, it is not the end itself.
So to rephrase my original question, “what is your end?” Ultimately your end determines what your true pursuit is. Most Christians and Christian churches would say that Jesus is their end, their ultimate pursuit. Yet analyzing my own heart and looking at the landscape of “gospels” that are preached throughout Christian churches, I would have to say that more often than not Jesus is a means not the end. Does this matter? I mean at least we are coming to Jesus, we are preaching Jesus, isn’t that enough? I would say that it matters and is actually quite critical. If we accept that our “god” is that which is our highest pursuit, and an Idol is anything created taking the place of the creator, the issue of whether Jesus is our end or not is a matter of Idolatry and true Worship. A prominent message being preached in our pulpits throughout America is what is called “the prosperity gospel.” There are extreme forms of the prosperity Gospel and subtle forms. None the less the danger in this gospel is that it makes God a means to an end, not the end itself. So often I hear preached “come to Jesus, He will give you a better life, marriage, finances, more power, etc.” Flip on your TV on sunday morning and you will hear someone claiming that if you “sow a seed of faith” you will recieve whatever you desire, or “follow the teachings of Jesus and you will have your best life now.” Sound’s nice and spiritual, I mean they are telling you to read the bible and come to Jesus, right? The problem is that there is a subtle but massive shift occurring, Jesus is being dethroned and something else being put in His place. He is no longer the end, but instead a means to an end.
This isn’t just an issue for TV preachers, it is an issue with each and every one of us. Man’s natural fallen tendency is towards Idolatry. As I said before, Idolatry is merely the placing of that which God created in the place of God. The problem is that we can easily justify our Idolatry by keeping Jesus in the mix. So often we turn to God so that we can “get back that girl”, “get that new job”, “have success in that new church plant?” But how often do we come to Christ because of who He is and what He has done. How often do we come to Him so that we can be with Him and have Him. Whenever we think “if I only had (fill in the blank) then I would be happy and fulfilled” whatever fills in that blank has become our Idol, it doesn’t matter how much we may talk about Jesus. Even things such as Heaven and Hell can subtly allow us to make ourselves our own Idols. Let me explain, if our reason for following Jesus is to keep ourselves out of tourment or to get paradise, we are actually focused on self preservation. “I want a mansion and a crown or I don’t want to burn.” Now if our focus is on following Jesus so that we can spend eternity with Him and keep from spending eternity separated from Him, then I would say that our focus is where it should be. So it isn’t necessarily wrong to want to stay out of Hell and go to Heaven as long as our reasoning is focused on being with Him not protecting our own self interests. A 19th century Indian evangelist named Sadhu Sundar Singh, has many beautiful quotes on this subject, but this short prayer of his is very powerful.
“Should I worship Him from fear of hell, may I be cast into it. Should I serve Him from desire of gaining heaven, may He keep me out. But should I worship Him from love alone, He reveal Himself to me, that my whole heart may be filled with His love and presence.”
Should we seek Him for anything but Himself we will no longer truly have Him, nor will we be able to enjoy that thing we sought in His place. But if we seek first Jesus as our true end, we will have Him, and all other things being in there proper place can be enjoyed as gifts from our Lord. I often wondered how so many of the great saints of old could die horrible deaths and live in such poverty with such joy in their hearts and happiness on their face. I think the reason they could do this is because they truly had Jesus as their end. You could take every earthly thing away and they still had the ultimate desire of their heart, Jesus. If Jesus be our end, then we have everything, if Jesus is not our end then we ultimately have nothing.
As for me, I need to take some time and check myself. As a pastor and church planter it has become quite easy to allow Jesus to become a means to the end of having a successful church plant. Sure planting a new church and furthering the gospel is a good thing, but put in the wrong place even the best of things can turn bad.
When was the last time you came to Jesus just to be with Him?
