Our duty is to be satisfied in Him
by Christian Ongtangco
What on earth are we here for? What is our purpose here in life? What is man’s ultimate duty? These are the questions that led me to write this blog.
Maximizing our joy in God is what we were created for because we are commanded to rejoice in God.
The bible tells over and over to pursue joy: “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones; shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart”- Psalm 32:11 (Psalm 67:4, Psalm 37:4, Luke 10:20) The Apostle Paul even encouraged us in Phil 4:4 to “rejoice in the Lord” while he himself was in the prison, for such a long time I’ve tried to ignore this verse because I never about this “duty of delighting ourselves” in Him.
Being satisfied with all God is for us in Jesus is the essence of the authentic experience of the authentic experience of worship. God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in.
John Piper once said in his book “The best news in the world… God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
because God’s passion to be glorified and our passion to be satisfied are not at odds. just as what the old Westminster catechism says “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
The radical implication is that pursuing pleasure in God is our highest calling. that means, If Christ’s honor is our passion, the pursuit of pleasure in Him is our duty. Being satisfied in God is our calling and duty.
“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” – Psalm 37:4 It’s no more a question whether you are enjoying your relationship with Him because it is our duty, we are mandated at all cost to find our satisfaction in Him, find rest in Him and enjoy Him forever. Here are ways we can do that. you may comment or suggest if you thought of more….
In love
What about relationships of love with other people? The pursuit of pleasure is an essential motive for every good deed. If you aim to abandon the pursuit of full and lasting pleasure, you cannot love people or please God. We must receive and experience real love before we can express it to others, because we cannot give what we do not have. So even if I feel it or not, it’s my ddecision to love Him with all my heart , mind and soul.
We can’t find our true joy and satisfaction in the midst of hype, emotions or feelings. Not only when we feel like we love him, when we are “lovestruck” by Him. We find joy and real love from the true source of it all no matter what situation we are in.
Love is the overflow of our joy in God, which gladly meets the needs of others. Thus, it’s our duty to pursue full and lasting joy that can only be found in Christ Jesus.
In worship
Being satisfied with all God is for us in Jesus is the essence of the authentic experience of worship. Therefore worship the pleases God is the pursuit of God. Our heart, mind, body and soul rans after him.
This means we get ourselves excited with God, not worship. The Person of God and not the lyrics and melody of the song or the glory and experience we are during our time of worship or the tears that have fallen in our eyes. These are God but our focus should be in the Father, Spirit and Son Jesus Christ alone.
Worship is just our expression, our way of entering into His presence, the moment when we get to meet with Him. Because He is our exceedingly great reward. Let’s not worship worship but Christ alone. If the essence of worship is satisfaction in God, then worship can’t be a means to anything else.
In suffering
Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow Him, deny ourselves and make sacrifices for the sake of ministering to the church and presenting His sufferings to the world.
We do not choose suffering simply because it is the right thing to do, but because the One who tells us to describes it as the path to everlasting joy. He asks us to trust into the obedience of suffering not to demonstrate the strength of our devotion to duty, nor to reveal the vigor of our moral resolve, not to prove the heights of our tolerance for pain; but rather to manifest , in childlike faith, the infinite preciousness of His all-satisfying promises.
Maturity is when even in times of pain we still trust Him, we still worship and find delight in Him. Even in times of doubt, confusion, pain, waiting, impatience and suffering.
In the pursuit of joy through suffering, we magnify the all-satisfying worth of the Source of our joy. Jesus Christ himself shines as the brightness at the end of our tunnel of pain. Try this and you’ll never go wrong.
Because God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.
