A Priority for the New Year

The start of a new year is always a time of rethinking our priorities. Even those who do not make formal resolutions spent at least a few moments thinking about what they want to do in the coming year. All of us should spend some time pondering what God’s priorities are for our lives. Often, we struggle trying to discern what the Lord wants us to do. As with many things, what seems complex can really be boiled down to something basic and easy to understand. So easy, in fact, it is tempting to dismiss it as unimportant. Often, we are like players on a basketball team that is enamored with fancy passes and crazy dribbling moves but has forgotten that the purpose is to put the ball in the hoop. It is the basic things that we take for granted that we forget and we do so at our own peril.
 
The Jewish leaders in the time of Jesus were passionate about obedience to God. They wanted to do God’s will and zealously searched the Scriptures looking for the things God wanted them to do. It helped them make decisions about simple and complex matters (John 5:39). They recognized 613 different commands in Bible. Some were positive actions to take and others were prohibitions. These commands guided everyday life.

When asked what the greatest or most important commandment was, Jesus answered that it was to “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” This is the number one priority of God for our lives: to love Him (Mark 12:28-34).

Strangely, when I talk to people about their goals for the coming year, loving the Lord never comes up, yet it is the Lord’s top priority for our lives. But what if we made loving Jesus our main goal for the coming year? What would that look like? What would it mean? How would we go about it?

A partially correct answer would be that we would obey him. After all, there are many passages that say that those who love him will obey him (John 14:15-24; 1 John 5:31). Those who say they “love God” but don’t do what he says are deceiving themselves. But I suspect that simple obedience falls far short of what the Lord intends. We all know that it is possible to obey rules on the outside while our hearts are filled with rebellion (Matthew 15:1-9).

Another tempting answer would be to make some promise of bold action to prove our devotion. Such an attempt is silly when we consider who God is. He is the Creator. He formed galaxies by simply issuing a command. What feat could we do that would possibly impress him? Build a cathedral? We’d be using the things he made. Go on a mission trip? Do you really think that will impress God? 

We are called to be in love with the Lord. Our hearts are to be filled with affection for him. We are to be enthralled with his beauty and enamored with his fascinating personality. We are to be awestruck at his power and amazed by his majesty. This is far more than doing things out of duty or dreaming up grandiose projects. It is the greatest calling and what we were created to experience.

How do we grow in our affection for Jesus? There is much that could be said, but let me suggest three simple things.

Increase your knowledge of him.
The more we know about the Lord, the more excited we will be about him. The fullness of God is found in Jesus. His glory was veiled in human flesh, but the Incarnate One displayed what he is like. So, spend time reading the gospels with the goal of learning more about what Jesus is like and what his kingdom is all about. Ask him to teach you more and more about him. Ask him to reveal his heart to you. Take time to express back to him your praise and adoration for who he is.

Increase your capacity to worship him. 
We struggle to find the vocabulary to express our love for the Lord. One of the best ways to become more fluent in worship is through the language of the psalms. Take a psalm and use it to express your adoration of who he is. Read through the psalm slowly. Then go back and read it again, pausing to affirm the qualities that you see there and express them back to the Lord. This habit may lead you to repentance or praise, and it will cause you to grow more intensely in love with him. 
For example, take Psalm 46. After reading it through once, go over it a second time, paraphrase and praying according to what it says. 

"God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way,
Though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains tremble at its swelling…"
Psalm 46:1-3 (ESV)
 
Lord, I praise you because you are a refuge and strength and a help in times of trouble. You are a place where I can hide safe from the storms and battles of life. How awesome you are! You formed the ground I walk on and know the names of distant galaxies. How much bigger and stronger you are than the things that trouble me. But you are a very present help in times of trouble. Right now. Right here. You are present. There is nothing that I need to fear. Though all around me might fall apart today, I rest secure in your arms. You will never fail me. Oh, how I love you!

A steady diet of praying this way will increase your passion for who he is and treble your ability to express your love for him in ways that will fill your heart, and his, with joy.
 
Read books by those who have a deep and a white-hot love for the Lord.

Read A.W. Tozer’s Knowledge of the Holy. 
This little book is a gold mine of bite-sized nuggets about the Lord by a man who loved him with a depth that few have matched. When my spiritual fire is ebbing, Tozer is one author I frequently turn to in order rekindle it. While all his writings are good, this particular book is a series of mediations on different aspects of the character and nature of God. Don’t read it quickly. Read it slowly and methodically pondering the truths Tozer lays before you. Then turn to prayer. Express verbally (either out loud or written) your love for the Lord because of the insights Tozer writes about. 

​Here’s a taste:
 
“The familiar picture of God as often torn between His justice and His mercy is altogether false to the facts. To think of God as inclining first toward one and then toward another of His attributes is to imagine a God who is unsure of Himself, frustrated and emotionally unstable, which of course is to say that the one of whom we are thinking is not the true God at all but a weak, mental reflection of Him badly out of focus.” (Kindle location 1301)
 
“God needs no one, but when faith is present, He works through anyone. Two statements are in this sentence and a healthy spiritual life requires that we accept both.” (Kindle location 640)
 
Read Mike Bickle’s Passion for Jesus.
Mike Bickle has been leading a prayer ministry for years. In fact, he started a prayer room that has had live worship going non-stop for twenty years! It is fueled by a people who are madly in love with Jesus and enjoy spending time declaring his worth. The ideas in Bickle’s book will draw you closer into a relationship with Jesus.

Here are some quotes:

“A life characterized by affection-based obedience is a life in which you are so loved, and so love God, that obedience is the only reasonable response to anything He wishes. For the sake of love, you are willing to give everything and find no sacrifice too great.” (Kindle location 524).

“The accumulation of information about the Scriptures and the mental discipline of hours of Bible study will never thoroughly cleanse the inner man in the way that devotional, worshipful meditation upon God's Word will. In Bible study alone, we store up important scriptural facts and concepts. But when our Bible study leads into personal dialogue with Jesus as we meditate upon His cleansing Word, we also experience growth in spiritual hunger, sensitivity, and nearness to Him. Active intimacy with His presence washes our spirits.” (Kindle location 1604).
 
Why is making loving God an important priority?
The Lord is interested in our hearts. He wants us to be in love with him. Obedience, by itself, can be done by people whose hearts are far away from the Lord. That isn’t what Jesus wants. He wants us to love Him for who he is and what he has done. Love for Jesus will cause us to have what has been called a “long obedience in the same direction”. It won’t be drudgery. It will be the life of one madly in love with their Creator, Savior, and Lord. It is what we were made for. Anything else is settling for far less.
 
So, plan now to cultivate your love relationship with the Lord. Make It your goal to love Jesus more passionately in December 2019 than you do today. May it be your greatest priority in 2019!