Our devotional reading today brings us into two of the seven languages God speaks to us through. As we study the Scriptures as well as discern and develop our desires, we grow in our discipleship. And ultimately, our growing in these things, our discipleship, is intended to bless the world around us.
In Whisper, Mark Batterson details Scripture and desires as our first two “love languages. Consider the following points made about each:
The First Language: Scripture (cf. 2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16)
“…whether we consciously construct it or not, we all have an epistemological starting point by which we survey all of life. It establishes our moral baseline, delineating between right and wrong. For some, it fluctuates as much as the latest fad. For others, it’s as fixed as the scientific method. For me, it’s as tried and true as the Bible…The Bible is not just my starting point; it’s the final authority when it comes to matters of faith and doctrine”.
“The goal of Bible knowledge isn’t just Bible knowledge…The goal is learning to recognize and respond to your heavenly Father’s voice so you can grow in intimacy with Him”.
“The surest way to get into the presence of God is to get into the Word of God. It changes the way we think, the way we feel, the way we live, and the way we love”.
“When you hide His Word in your heart, you never know when the Spirit of God will make it go off”.
In manner of applying these thoughts about Scripture being hidden in our hearts, might we consider the following quotes:
“Every Christian worth his salt ought to read the Bible cover to cover every year”. – JI Packer
“I wonder what would happen if we all agreed to read one of the Gospels, until we came to a place that told us to do something, then went out to do it, and only after we had done it…began reading again”. – Peter Marshall
The Second Language: Desires (cf. Psalm 37:4; Matthew 6:33; Romans 12:2)
I am excited that Mark Batterson quoted a quote from John Piper that I cite regularly, “God is most glorified in you, when you are most satisfied in Him”. American psychologist, Abraham Maslow said it like this, “A musician must make music, a builder must build, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself”.
How are you finding satisfaction in Christ? What must you do to be a peace?
“Seeking God first is delighting yourself in the Lord. Seeking God is giving Him the first word and the last word. Seeking God first is making sure His voice is the loudest voice in your life…Then and only then will God speak to us in the language of desires. He’ll change our desires, intensify our desires, and upload new desires within us. Those desires actually become spiritual compasses by which we navigate the will of God”.
“Life is too short not to love what you do, so do what you love. The key is finding the place where gifts and desires overlap. God-given gifts are what we’re best at. God-ordained desires are what we are most passionate about. And the place where those gifts and desires overlap is the sweet spot”.
Consider this exhortation to mark out your desires and what will lead you to be overwhelmingly satisfied in Christ Jesus, “If you don’t know what you want, how are you going to know when you get it? Maybe it’s time to take inventory. What do you want God to do for you? You owe it to Him to answer that question”.
Intimate Knowledge of God
In Untamed, Alan Hirsch goes into detail about what it means to know God or to have knowledge of God. He says, “In the Biblical worldview, in order to truly know something (yada in Hebrew), one cannot merely observe it but must come into contact with it. There must be mutuality and personal involvement”. Another writer says, “…we come to know ultimate reality, not by theological ideas about it, even though these are valid and necessary, but by union with it…”.
I couldn’t agree more, that, “To know God means to love Him with “all our hearts”, and loving God conveys a type of knowledge that cannot be gained by any other means”.
“To be mature disciples, we need to engage with knowing and loving God on all three levels: our minds, our hearts, and our actions…real knowledge of God is reached in the context of the community of faith where people can learn from one another”.
Discipleship – undoing falsity, gaining Truth
Most of our discipleship is the work of our minds being continually renovated, as we seek, search, study, and prove the things of God. Many cleave to their innate idolatry which causes them to suffer loss. Hirsch says, “…if someone is pre-committed to falsity and will not pursue God with pure heart and motives, they will only hear what they want to hear…When we deliberately turn our hearts from the love of the truth and redefine it to suit ourselves, we will experience the anguish of our choices”.
Our continually being renewed by the Scriptures, becoming obedient in our discipleship, allows us to conform to and confirm desires we gain from God. Hirsch goes on to say, “If we wish to preserve the life-giving connection with God, we must learn the discipline of obedience to God in a world that will reward us for waywardness”.
“Discipleship means loving God first and foremost, and loving everything else in light of that love…loving God as our primary or “first” love actually frees us to experience His world in a far more profound and fulfilling way”.
Let us immerse ourselves in the Scriptures, endeavoring to be obedient to what we read, and truly doing the work of renewing our minds as we engage the knowledge of God, thus discerning and developing desires that further His work. In that manner we will see the fruit of what author and apologist, C.S. Lewis noted, “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in, aim at earth and you will get neither”
Enriched by His Truth,
Pastor Michael Miano