For Today, Just for Today…

The other day, I was talking with a good (my best) friend and said: “If God is not pleased with you and your walk with him, there is absolutely NO hope for me. I might as well give up now.” This turned out to be a very important statement for both of us. I had been going through a time that I realized that I was(am) addicted to more. Whatever I have in my life, I want more.

This has played out in every aspect of my being. Food.(especially ice cream) Money. TV. Relationships. Alcohol. God.   …GOD? Addicted to more of God? Are you kidding me? A person can never have too much of God, Right? Well, let’s look at it in a different way….

Addiction can NEVER be satisfied. Addiction can show up in an area of your life that in most other people would be considered normal. AA calls those people “normies”. Normies can take it or leave it. Addicts are never satisfied. Never satisfied. A normy can take a drink (or two) and leave half of the second glass at the table and walk away. An alcoholic looks at that half-filled glass on the table and wants to drain it as he gets up. For him, one is too many, a thousand won’t satisfy.

You’re probably saying… “Jim, what in the world does addiction to alcohol (or ______ younameit) have to do with my relationship with God”? Never satisfied. Let me ask the question another way: Is it possible to be satisfied in my relationship with God? For the majority of my life, I would have answered – “NO!!” “Oh sure, there are times that He fills me and satisfies my desire for Him, but it never lasts.”

As I have come to recognize my addiction to more, and began to be healed in the many ways it affected me, it finally came down to my desire to have more of God. I recognize that so many of the expressions of needing more is because I have a hole in my soul that the wind blows through and nothing in my life can fill that hole. Not even more. I began to recognize that the deepest longing of my soul can ONLY be filled by an ongoing, dynamic, daily relationship with God. AA calls it a “higher power”. I call Him JESUS.

But – back to the question – Can I be satisfied in my relationship with God? As my friend and I were discussing this and he was expressing his dissatisfaction in his relationship with God, it dawned on me that For Today, Just For Today, I need to be satisfied with(in) my relationship with God. See, if I compare my relationship with God with my friend’s walk with him, I fail. He’s a trained minister. He’s had biblical training. He preaches the Word. He sings and leads worship. He studies and writes much more proficiently than I do. He….   “If God is not pleased with you and your walk with him, there is absolutely NO hope for me. I might as well give up now.”

Part of this post has to do with “comparing yourselves among yourselves”, but I’m not going down that path. Instead, I’m going to ask this: Is it possible that For Today, Just for Today, I need to be satisfied with the work that God has done and is doing in me? You see, I believe in PROCESS! I believe that the growth and changes that happen in my life because I have a relationship with Jesus are progressive. I am not at the same place in my life, in my walk with Him that I was 5 years ago. 2 years ago. 6 months ago. 6 weeks ago. Yesterday. And I will be different tomorrow. Next year. 5 years from now. But For Today, Just for Today, I need to understand my privilege of finding a place of rest. In Him.

Since the day my friend and I had that discussion, I am comparing myself less and less with his walk with Jesus. He has his walk, I have mine. OK, I’ll preach that sermon just a little bit… Comparison IS the thief of JOY! But it’s not only the comparison of me with my friend; it’s the comparison of ME, today, with where God is going to have me tomorrow, next week, next year. Or where I was yesterday. Last week.

Today, Just for Today, I need to be able to lie down in green pastures and rest in Him. As I find rest in His Presence, I can honestly pray; “Search me, Lord. Show me anything in my life that is not pleasing you.” As I pray that prayer, He is faithful to complete that work He began in me. Relentlessly Faithful!

The Process of becoming all that I can be for God has a lot more to
do with HIS work in me than it does MY work on me or for Him