“Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD…” Jer 24:7“
…but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.” Jer.32:40“f
or it is God who works in you both to desire and to do for His good pleasure.” Phil. 2:13
One of the wondrous realities of the New Covenant is that God has implanted within us a new nature which yearns for what matters most in the universe – God. Nothing matters more than God. Nothing satisfies more than God. Nothing captivates more than God. Nothing enthralls more than God. And this internally new, divinely implanted, supernatural yearning transforms what is our rightful obligation into what is our innate enjoyment. Let me say it again - the provisions of the New Covenant transform our rightful duty into our supernatural delight. Notice the promise – “I will give…I will put...it is God Who works in you.” This radical, new inclination toward God is not the result of trying harder or praying longer; but is wholly the fiery gifting of indwelling Deity. In the words of St. Athanasius of Alexandria, we have become “ingodded.”
Jonathan Edwards writes, “The first effect of the power of God in the heart in regeneration is to give the heart a divine taste or sense; to cause it to have a relish of the loveliness and sweetness of the supreme excellency of the divine nature.” Martin Luther puts it even more strongly, “For faith through the merit of Christ obtaineth the Holy Spirit, which Spirit doth make us new hearts, doth exhilarate us, doth excite and inflame our heart, that it may do those things willingly which the Law of love commandeth…” I love his phrase, “doth excite and enflame our hearts.”
In other words, our passionate longing for God is not something we are called to work up; but rather a wondrous provision we are called to fall back on. Gifted passion, divinely implanted fire, and ravenous hunger for God are all the birthright of every child of God. A birthright that many of us don’t even know exists!
God has made His glory and our satisfaction to be synchronized with one another. In other words, our longing for personal satisfaction and God’s resolve for personal glorification are not opposed to one another as is so often supposed. We will find ourselves most deeply satisfied and spiritually invigorated when we are most dominated and intoxicated by God and His glory. It is the greatest win-win situation known to man. John Piper puts it so well, "...the most freeing discovery this sinner has ever made is that God's commitment to be glorified and my longing to be satisfied are not in conflict; but find simultaneous consummation in His display of and my delight in the glory of God." Again Jonathan Edwards writes, “God’s respect to the creature’s good, and His respect to Himself, is not a divided respect; but both are united in one, as the happiness of the creature…is happiness in union with Himself”.
Ah, what an amazing proposition! Radical, wholly abandoned, white-hot pursuit of the living God is simply doing what we were made to do. And doing what we were made to want to do. And doing what we were made to enjoy above all else. Godly obedience therefore - in the final analysis - is simply the giving into and glutting of our new nature!
Admittedly, our old nature will fight this every step of the way. But no amount of faltering or failure can delete this new, ever present reality in our souls. Truly, we are permanently "ingodded." And if that isn’t breathtakingly good news, I have no idea what is.
Flashpoint: The desire to go hard after God is the gift of God. Fall back on gifted passion and then press forward to the awaiting God Who longs for your company.
