What You Love

The author of Ecclesiastes certainly has a way with words. It's one of the most sober looks at the realities of human life that the Bible offers, so poignantly phrased in wisdom and with a deep respect and dignity for the challenges we face as fallen human beings. All of those things that make us feel small in the world, the author of Ecclesiastes acknowledges in ways we wish were eloquent enough to speak. 

In doing so, he not only affirms what most of us feel from time to time, but he gives us something to think about. 

Take Ecclesiastes 5, for example. Here, the author makes clear that whatever you love, there never seems to be enough of it. If you love money, you won't be satisfied with just what you have; you'll want more. If you love food, you're always hungry. If you love drink, you're always thirsty. If you love affirmation, you're always seeking the next 'like' on social media. If you love yourself, you can't get enough of you. If you love work, you'll toil yourself to death. 

It doesn't matter what it is, if you love it, you will always crave more of it. Always. You will never be satisfied with just what you have because it fills up your heart in a way that nothing else can, and it always seems to leave more room than it started with. 

We know this is true; we're living it. And maybe you think at this point, I'm going to launch into some spiel about how we should break the stranglehold these things we love have on our lives, how we should break free of the habits and hang-ups that keep us tied to these things. 

Nope. 

Because what struck me as I read this passage recently wasn't about that. What struck me, rather, was this:

So love God. 

If you can't ever get enough of what you love, love God. Love Him in such a way that you'll constantly be seeking Him, that you'll want to be closer, to know more, to do more, to be more, to love more. To discover more about Him. To spend more time in intimacy with Him. To run to Him first because that's where your love is. 

We talked earlier this week about God's mysteries, how He's always got them. How there's always more to know and to learn and to love about God, and there has to be. He's that much greater than our minds can ever fathom, and He has to be. If He weren't, He wouldn't be God. 

You can love God so deeply that you pursue only Him and still never discover everything there is to learn about Him. Isn't that amazing? Isn't it great? Invest your love in Him, and you will never be parched for more; there always is more. You'll spend your whole life pursuing Him and it will only make you love Him more...which will make you pursue Him more...which will make you love Him more. 

And unlike all of these other "things" we think we love...when you love God, you feel the fullness of loving God. You don't feel the empty places. You don't feel deprived. You don't feel diminished or cheated or hungry; you feel full, satisfied, yet there's still this longing for more. There's still this love that drives you to keep going, keep digging deeper, keep discovering, keep loving. 

There never seems to be enough of what you love...so love God. You'll find out how much more than enough He truly is.