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(The Enjoyment of Christ continued)
Tune: Amazing Grace The Tree of Life, how sweet the fruit; With God as life complete; I once was dead but now I live; Was starved, but now I eat. I freely eat this living tree, For eating is the way To put God’s life inside of me, to live by Him today. Seeking
For Enjoyment It seems as though all my life was wrapped up in just one thing, seeking for more enjoyment and the satisfaction that comes from enjoyment. I reasoned that in order to have a lot of enjoyment, one had to have a lot of money; so I worked very hard to get ahead in the world. I obtained a good education, earned a master’s degree and progressed rapidly in the business world. Before I was thirty years old, I owned my own home, held several investments, and acquired many possessions. Along with the possessions I acquired was a taste for different enjoyments. I began to enjoy different kinds of wines, tobaccos, and foods; golf, tennis, dining out at different restaurants, travel, sports, and all kinds of entertainment. But the more I indulged in these things, the more my lust for more satisfaction grew. And, the more I pursued the satisfaction of my lusts, the less satisfaction I had. I became more frustrated. Then one day God had mercy on me and called me to His Son, Jesus Christ. I accepted Jesus as my Savior and my life began to change. No one told me that I should give up any of these pleasures, nor did I do it initially. But the more I enjoyed Christ the less I desired these other things. As time went on, I actually lost my taste for many things and found that compared to the enjoyment of Christ, none of these things offered such satisfaction. I begin to realize that I pursued these things because I never experienced the real enjoyment that comes from experiencing Christ. I had never heard that Christ was for our enjoyment, and I never associated God with enjoyment. To me, enjoyment was one thing and God or religion was something altogether different. Of course, until I fully accepted Christ as my Savior, all I really had was religion. I attended the Roman Catholic mass every Sunday and was educated in a Jesuit college and parochial schools, but I never experienced Christ and consequently had no enjoyment of God. Even after I received Christ, I didn’t experience Him that much because I was still so wrapped up in pursuing my own goals. But God’s intention is for man to enjoy Christ, and He sovereignly arranged for all the circumstances in my life to bring me to experience Christ and to see that Christ was my life. Now I realize that Christ can be experienced and enjoyed in everything I’m doing. Even the everyday things of life, like waiting in long lines at stores or banks, can be an opportunity to enjoy Christ. The need to find satisfaction from so many things has been replaced by the reality of finding my satisfaction in Christ. I can really testify that nothing compares to the enjoyment of Christ. When I call upon His name, when I read His Word, when I meet with the church and fellowship with other believers, I enjoy Christ in a rich way with a satisfaction that remains. And, not only am I satisfied, but I have the joy of knowing that God is satisfied How much better this is than the selfish, very limited satisfaction that I used to enjoy. (The Christian, Sept 1982) Next Page |
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