Do you desire GOD?

- Isaiah 64:8 "We are the clay, You are the Potter. We are all the work of Your hands."


- If a lump of clay has a mind of understanding, can speak and is grateful, it would probably say "Thanks!" to the potter from the time the potter sets his hands on the clay.
- Why? Because we know a potter sets out to create something beautiful out of an ordinary, formless mass. That is his single-minded purpose.
- In the Bible, GOD has often compared Himself to a potter, and His people the clay.
- It portrays not only GOD's sovereign will over our lives, but also His devotion to us.
- He sets out to make us beautiful from our former sinful state of life.
- At other times, GOD's devotion to us is illustrated in the context of a loving relationship between a husband & his wife.
- Ephesians 5:25-27 says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless".
- GOD loves us as a loving husband loves his wife. What ought to be our response?


- If you have already tasted the love of GOD, and are assured of your identity in Christ Jesus, redeemed and loved by GOD, which I have no doubt many of you are, I would like to ask you one question now: Do you desire GOD?
- We often ask people when sharing the gospel, "do you want to go to heaven?". If heaven is as beautiful as the Bible has described in part & the consequence of not choosing heaven is hell, well, most people would say "Yes". But that isn't the question that needs to be answered. Salvation in Christ Jesus is not about going to a place; it is about making it right with GOD.
- You see, before knowing Christ, we were all hopelessly dead in sin.
- Ephesians 2:1 said it well, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins..."
- It goes on to say in verse 4 & 5: "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."


- Salvation is only the start of a relationship restored between us and GOD in Christ. Because of His great love, mercies and devotion, we have been made ALIVE in Christ.
- What are we to do with this new life, if it isn't to desire GOD, to please Him, to do His will, and to seek His face?
- If you tell someone who doesn't know GOD to love GOD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his mind, he will most likely laugh it off.
- That is perfectly normal for anyone hasn't tasted and seen that the LORD is good.
- For those who know GOD, who have tasted and can vouch for His goodness, what are we doing about the first and greatest commandment in Matthew 22:37?


- Does the desire for GOD show up in our lives daily, or only on Sundays when we are with our church friends and pastors?
- Do we go to church expecting to be served or to serve? Mark 10:45 says "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
- Do we realize that the church of GOD is not the building where we gather to worship once a week? WE are the church, right here at our workplace, in the neighborhood where we live, in places where we meet people. When people see us, they see the church. Do they see us serving & loving GOD where we are?
- Does the desire for GOD permeate every area of our life and interaction, in our words, thoughts and actions?
- Do our colleagues who work at least 8 hours a day with us see Christ in our life and a constant hunger and thirsting after righteousness?
- Do they see us seeking to do our Father's will as Christ demonstrated during His time on earth?
- Do they see us pray without ceasing?
- Do they see us praising GOD, or do they see us murmuring, complaining and getting into all kinds of argument which do not honor GOD?
- Do they see the beauty of Christ in our life as we are being molded by GOD?
- Are we fruitful in Christ so that we please GOD the Father? John 15:1-2 says ,"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."
- Do they see the evidence of the Holy Spirit in our life, since we are "marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance" as stated in Ephesians 1:13-14?
- Are our lives overflowing with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, or do we only honour Him with our lips but not our heart?
- Do we carry each other's burdens, thus fulfilling the law of Christ as stated in Galatians 6:2? Or are we only too happy to be minding our own business while fellow believers struggle to serve, build up the body of Christ & reach the lost?
- Do people see uncommon love, compassion and mercies in us or do they see hatred, apathy and vengeance instead?
- Do they see us giving GOD His rightful place in our life?
- Exodus 20:3 says, "You shall have no other gods before me." Do we take this seriously, or have work, family or even the love of money displaced GOD in our life?


- I don't know about you, but I cannot answer these questions honestly in a manner that pleases GOD.
- Let's not excuse ourselves as GOD's work in progress.
- We all need to repent, ask GOD to forgive us, help us get back on track, and put in our heart an overflowing desire & love for GOD.
- If we can't love GOD wholeheartedly, we can't possibly lay claim to being a child of GOD. Look at Matthew 22:37 again. Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
- Jesus certainly wasn't joking when He said in Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"
- Again Revelation 2:4-5 says "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first."


- GOD's love for us demands a response from us, which is an overflowing love and desire for GOD.
- We will long for heaven only because we want to be with GOD where He is, not because heaven is a beautiful place or because we want to escape from hell.
- Truly I tell you, if we sincerely desire GOD, we would be seeking Him and looking intently into His Word daily, and doing His will.
- We will come before Him daily, confessing our sins, and asking Him to purify us from all unrighteousness.
- We will put GOD first, saying as John the Baptist said in John 3:30 "He must become greater; I must become less."
- We will, as Romans 12:1-2 says, "offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
- We will do GOD's work, which, as John 6:29 says, is "to believe in the one he has sent".
- Moreover, we will also obey GOD's call to proclaim the good news of the gospel and making disciples of all nations.
- Sharing the gospel, sharing the love of GOD and making disciples are not the exclusive duties of pastors, evangelists and missionaries; these are the duties of every Christian, for Jesus said in Mark 8:34 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me". What does it mean to follow Christ, except to do what He did?
- We will then be, as John 5:14-16 says, "the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."


- Brothers and sisters, whether you are a new or long-time Christian, I urge all of us to at least appreciate and take our salvation seriously.
- Jesus didn't die on the cross so that we can get comfortable after booking a place in heaven.
- He certainly didn't die so that we can get an insurance policy while continuing to live as sons of disobedience.
- He died on the cross so that we can experience the love of the Father as He does, adopted and accepted into GOD's household, uphold the Body of Christ, magnify & glorify GOD's name, and proclaim the LORD Jesus Christ until His return.
- Let the Word of GOD take root in your life, sow generously towards the things of GOD & His kingdom, and yield a return of 100 fold or more as in the parable of the sower.
- This was what Jesus meant in Matthew 6:20 when He said to store up treasures in heaven, and where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.


Thomas Tan