Too Much of a Good Thing

I was sharing the gospel with someone rather close to me (let's call him Alex) at 1 in the morning at a Chili's. Before Chili's, I took Alex out to a small venue out in Midlothian, TX to go see a few local metal bands play. All these bands were Christian Metal bands and every song was filled with the gospel. Between songs the lead vocalist for some of the bands would share their testimonies and how past pain and God's intervention in that pain inspired the next song to be played. Some came from broken families, drug abuse, sexual immorality, struggles with unbelief, self harm, and other heartbreaking sins. They also gave encouragement and expressed the love they felt from Jesus Christ. Truly an inspiring night.

After the concert I knew I had to go deeper into the gospel with Alex because he is an unbeliever and I couldn't let all that was shared that night from the bands go unaddressed (did I make-up a word?). So that's when I decided to take Alex out to eat.

Over cheesy fries and a couple of burgers, I began to probe his mind about what he thought about the bands and some of their messages.

"It was cool. The music was good. But I don't think I'm ready for any of this God stuff. Nothing bad has happened to me yet to where I need God. Even talking about how perfect heaven is doesn't sound all that great. Haven't you heard of too much of a good thing?"

We had that conversation almost like 5 months ago and every now and then it would crawl to the front of my mind. Can God be too much of a good thing?

In a worldly sense, too much of a good thing is a reasonable thought. Too much candy can get you diabetes. Too much pizza can bring so many health problems. Even too much water can result into water poisoning! Candy, pizza, and water are not all bad but too much of it can give bad results (some people might argue my pizza example ~~Bianca~~). But can God's love and perfection be too much? No.

All through out history in scripture we are constantly reminded of how broken our world is and how we long for things to go back to what they once where before the fall. Once Adam and Eve ate that fruit everything was fractured. There was peace, harmony, rhythm, joy, love, unity, perfection but all was broken. Shame was realized, violence against our God erupted, and sin ran rampant.

The prophets spoke about creation restored. In Isaiah 11:6-9 "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat . . . They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain." In our fallen world the wolf doesn't dwell with the lamb he destroys it! In our hurting world the leopard doesn't lie down with the lamb he devours it! In Revelation 21 God says there will be no more mourning, no more pain, and he will wipe away all of our tears. He is declaring to restore thing like they once were in Eden before the fall. We long to have peace restored!

Eternal peace isn't too much of a good thing. Ultimate love isn't too much of a good thing. Creation renewed isn't too much of a good thing. God isn't too much of a good thing. It's what we long for.

How Long

"2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear me? Or cry to you 'Violence!' and you will not save? 3 Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. 4 So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. (The Lord's Answer) 5 'Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.'"

                                                  -Habakkuk 1:2-5

        
How Long (Love Constraining To Obedience) from Wayfarer: Repurposed Hymns on Vimeo.

Brothers and Sisters Fighting Lust

The wedding date is just a little more that two months away and it's getting difficult. There are so many little details that we have to take care of that we didn't even think about before! And I'm still worried that more of these small, but HUGE, details will rear their ugly heads as we get closer to the wedding. Another difficult thing in our engagement is the lust.

The more we speak to other married or engaged couples the more we find that a significant struggle for couples is that physical longing intensifies for one another as the big day gets closer.  I did struggle with this. I usually initiated a lot of it, but we came together and humbled ourselves and began to seek accountability with another couple close to us.

The accountability that we have is great, but we knew we couldn't stop there. We prayed that God would make us more Christ-like and prayed for a heart change and along with that our thinking.

Kevin DeYoung is the author of A Hole in our Holiness and he wrote something along the lines of seeing one another as Brothers and Sisters in Christ before we both say "I do". Kim is still my Sister in Christ. She will be until we actually become one. This truth has greatly shaped I viewed my relationship with Kim.

This even works for young men and women who struggle with lust.

If we are not married to that person, they are our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Our desire for them shouldn't be physical but our desire should be that we help mature one another in Christ! Even if they are not saved just yet, our hope shouldn't be trying to get them to come home with us but our hope should be that they get to know and experience Christ!

God is building his Church using every Brother and Sister that even the gates of hell can't stand against.