Monday, April 4, 2011

The Greatest Obsession

I figured I'd post something about this for all my marriage/prince charming- obsessed girl friends. Lately, I've been battling with the whole "I want to get married, but I don't want it to become an idol," thing, and God's also reminded me that maybe He doesn't have marriage in my future. Either way, idolatry is a biggy for God: He takes it super seriously. Just read Ezekiel 14. He hates it, and since He is my standard, I've got to hate it too. I've come to the realization that I've got to love God with all I've got, no matter what. If I get married and God blesses me with a husband, then super! But I still have to love Him more than my husband. If I don't get married and God doesn't have that in His plans for me, then I can't just pine all the time for something I'll never get. I've got to love God more than anything else, and then not being married won't bother me, because I'm living for Him, not myself. You know how we Christians should be putting off the old man? Well, we also have to be putting on the new man. My biggest problem for a long time was the fact that I was trying to get rid of all the idolatrous thoughts of marriage and Prince Charming, but I didn't put anything in it's place. And since I have this habit of idolatry (being a sinful human and all), I would easily slip back into my old train of thought. On Tuesday night, however, I was talking to God in my journal, and all of a sudden, it hit me. When I like a guy, I think about him allll the time and I want to tell everyone about him. He invades all of my thoughts: when I'm sleeping, when I'm eating, doing homework, anything! I'm always thinking about what he's doing and what he's done and about his personality. I tell my girl friends all the cute little things he does for me and what I can't wait to do for him. Basically, it's an obsession. But what if I felt that way about God? What if I couldn't stop thinking about Him all the time, invading all of my thoughts with what He's doing, what He's done, and about His personality? What if I noticed every little thing He did for me and for the people around me and couldn't wait to tell my friends about it? What if every moment of every day, I was planning things to do to please Him, and to bring Him glory? What if I was heartbroken when I displeased Him and felt terrible until I confessed it to Him and asked for His forgiveness? What if all I wanted in the entire world was to be with Him forever and ever? That would be the greatest obsession.

6 comments:

Nathaniel M said...

Hey Lydia! Nice post. I'd never really thought of marriage becoming a possible idol before besides the fact that God should be loved more than anything: including one's spouse. One thing that I believe is that the verse that says "Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God" does not mean that you should constantly think about God per se and constantly be doing stuff like helping the needy or evangelizing, but instead simply doing that which you normally would in a way that pleases God. E.G., if you're talking with a friend about even the least consequential thing ever or the most important of topics, you should do so in a way that is pleasing to God. This being said, I think that one should try to limit how one serves their spouse due to it being obsessive: instead, one can literally glorify God via serving their spouse. What're your thoughts on this?

Also, as a side-note, while I was in a relationship, my emotional love for God increased greatly. I'm not sure why, or what it may imply, but food for thought... (I don't believe that we must emotionally love God so long as our actions and intellect reflect a true love for Him)

Anonymous said...

Sometimes we do obsess over the opposite sex. I agree with you because we don't seem to be as excited about God sometimes. As a single, I do believe our emotions should be a lot more on God. But the closer we get to marriage, we have to start practicing balance. After God, our spouses are next in line.

Lydia said...

I got some really great advice from an older woman who's known my mom since she was a little girl.. It was a piece of paper with some words written on it.. and the point of it was that a girl should learn to trust God with all of her heart.. only then will God bless her with the love of her life.. only after she makes Him the love of her life.. :D

Queen E! I think you are a new reader! I'd love to invite you to my new blog that I've started for the new chapter of my life. It's willyoubemyhomie.blogspot.com! :) Hope to see you there!

Nathaniel M said...

I agree to an extent, and the same for guys. People in general should completely trust in God. Nevertheless, I'm not sure that this is required to find the spouse that's right for you - if we had to do things perfectly in order for God to do anything for us, we would be REALLY doomed.

Also, I think I made a typo when I made that last comment on this post. I meant that people SHOULDN'T limit their service to their spouse, and should glorify God through their service.

Oh, and I'm just confused... my bad... how does that piece of paper with words on it interpret to what it does?

Lydia said...

It's written as if you're sitting with Jesus and He's telling you. :)

Nathaniel M said...

What do you mean?