Can we ever have too much of God?
There is a saying that always haunted me. It is “You can have as much of God as you want”.
We say we want all of God. What would that look like? Do you conjure up a picture of floating on a cloud, always smiling and happy, no worries, no trials, no temptations, no struggles, filled with joy, always making the right decisions, and doing the right things? Would you see yourself as humble, a good servant, steward, and generous?
Will we ever get all of God we want this side of heaven? I propose it’s unlikely as it’s not a destination we reach, rather a journey we experience. We certainly start out wanting to have all of God and then because of the evil that surrounds us and the selfishness of our nature, we find ourselves turning away from God even if we desire not to. God knows this about us and that is why the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 1:6:
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Brother Lawrence wrote a book called “Practicing the Presence of God”.
What I feel Brother Lawrence was conveying is that, experiencing the presence of God is indeed something that can increase greatly in our daily life and part of that is to reduce the amount of doubt, guilt, or condemnation we feel when we come up short along the way.
Brother Lawrence would quickly admit his sin and then immediately continue with his praise of God. He did not dwell on his sin. He accepted that it was part of his life and though he did not like it, he knew that God did not count it against him as long as his heart was in the right place.
So sincerely wanting all of God is a matter of the heart. The first step is to know that He loves to hear this. The next step is to know that He has made all of himself available. The third step is to let Him work this out in you and understand you can’t do it yourself.
Your job is to keep your heart in the right place. Brother Lawrence said he does this by having a lofty view of who God is and a lofty love for him, the rest God takes care of.
Each moment of your day God is giving you a piece of Him for you to practice with. As you experience Him, you find that you see how you have grown in having more of Him. This will show up in both internal and external ways. You will think new thoughts, desire to serve or to give, find new ways to forgive or accept others and yourself. You will increase in strength when trials come your way and experience new levels of peace, appreciate more of creation, and your mind will return to God quicker.
I don’t think Brother Lawrence hit his goal this side of heaven, but I do feel he learned to enjoy the journey in a much greater way.
Just a Thought…
