Nuggets from An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith—Keeping the Passion for God

David, who knew the Lord very well, tells us the secret of that intimate relationship which he enjoyed: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple” (Psalm:27:4One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
See All...). There can be no doubt that knowing God and experiencing the wonder of His love was the continual and intense longing of David’s heart, as so many of his psalms attest: “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee…” is the way Psalm 63 begins, and this same passion is expressed in so many others.

In spite of the rejection he experienced by family and friends during so much of his life, David’s heart was filled with the joy of the Lord—a joy that strengthened him for the many trials he endured. He also had a deep understanding of heaven and knew that the joy he experienced in part during this brief life of faith would be realized in its fullness there. It is the anticipation of the heavenly joy and, yes, intense pleasure of God’s presence, that raises our hopes from this earth to heaven.  In another psalm, David had written:

Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm:16:11Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
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Paul indicated that in the last days men would be “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy:3:4Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
See All...). What an indictment. How it challenges us to reexamine our priorities. How ashamed we will be one day that the pitiful pleasures of this world could ever have blinded us to the infinite and eternal pleasures God has “prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians:2:9But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
See All...). What a bad bargain to exchange the heavenly for the earthly. Writing more than 200 years ago in The Power of the Spirit, William Law put it in sharp perspective:

And when the lusts of the flesh have had their last day, and the pride of life has only a dead body to inhabit, the soul of man which remains will know at last that it has nothing of its own, nothing that can say, “I do this,” or “I possess that.”

Then all that man has or does, will either be the glory of God manifested in him, or the power of hell in full possession of his soul. The time of man’s playing with words and intellect, of grasping after positions among men or of amusing himself with the foolish toys of this vain world, can last no longer than he is able to eat and drink with the creatures of this world.

“If in this life only we have hope in Christ,” declared Paul, “we are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians:15:19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
See All...). The joyful Christian has put his hope in heaven. He is not living for this world and makes sacrifices in this life to please his Lord and to be assured of hearing His “well done” in heaven.

Such is the message of Hebrews 11, where we are given a list of some of the heroes and heroines of the faith and are told of their exploits. The outstanding characteristic of everyone on that roll of honor was the fact that their ultimate hope was in heaven. Confronted by a choice between this world and the one to come, they chose the latter.