A friend on staff passed along to me how much he was enjoying Paul David Tripp’s new book, A Quest for More. He noted that Tripp gives a compelling description of how we settle for so much less than the fullness of God, as seen in these great quotes:

“In a heated moment all of us are quite capable of treating a minor detail of life as if it were a major thing. We are all capable of fighting for what has little value while forgetting things of transcendent value. In a flash of irritation, a mom will treat the condition of her son’s bedroom as being more valuable than the community she is to have with her son, which is so essential to what God wants to do for this boy through her. After months of frustration, a believer will get into a heated argument over garden boundaries with his neighbor, forgetting how much more important it is to be salt and light in the man’s life than how many flowers were planted over the property line. For a moment, a man will get more of a sense of well-being from the look and smell of his brand new car than he does from the condition of his heart. For a season, the affection and appreciation of another human being will become more functionally important to us than the gracious, forgiving, and adopting love of our heavenly Father. For a moment, a succulent steak becomes more important to us than a soul that has been satisfied by the Living Bread. In the flash of one look, the beauty and shape of a woman’s body can become more important than long-term marital community and a heart that is pure. And in a car on a given night, being right in the eyes of your spouse can become more important than living right before your Lord… It is so hard for us to make the truly important things functionally important. (26-27)

“Things as mundane as wardrobe, menu, schedule, workload, location, traffic, weather, being right, getting affirmed, money, housing, employment, gardens, family rooms, sex, leisure, who’s in the bathroom first, who did what with my newspaper, who ate the last of the cereal, etc. — all of which are important in some way — rise to a spiritually dangerous level of importance in the heat of the moment. (31)

The way we forget what is important “in the heat of the moment” is so true! And it is exactly what leads to so much of the conflict in our lives. We get wrapped up in our immediate surroundings and forget how much MORE Christ has called us to! Tripp describes this as “squeezing the size of your life to the size of your personal dreams, wants, and needs” (30). God has called us to participation in HIS kingdom — which is so much bigger than having all our desires met in all the small (or big) moments of life. When we are truly participating in The Kingdom of God, then we truly are free to respond to others with the grace, patience, and forgiveness that comes from not worrying about our own little kingdom and its desires because we are fulfilled by Christ.

Thanks for this, Sean. A good word, indeed!

Comments RSS