GoldSample

Our Obsession is Not the Same

One day God spoke to me very clearly and said,

“Nicola, our obsession is not the same … you seek perfection, but I seek hearts. You chase the beautiful, I chase the broken. You pursue excellence, I pursue the lost. You want the best, I desire the most despised.”

This was deeply uncomfortable for me to hear!

It’s interesting to me how we all seem to be searching for some idealistic form of perfection. We are always looking to upgrade our lives. We have bought into the deception that accumulating “things” will somehow give us greater credibility – not just with others, but even with ourselves. We think that what we possess and what we’ve achieved will justify our existence and prove our worth.

The problem with this approach to life is that its flaws quickly become apparent – even to us. We hide our true selves from view, cover up our inadequacies with material possessions and accolades, and desperately hope that people won’t look into our lives any deeper than what can be seen on the surface. We fear that if they do, they will realise that we are a fraud, living a masquerade. They might discover who we really are and uncover our weakness, brokenness, fear and pain.

The antidote to this paradox is to fill our lives with endless busyness. We bury our real selves under a camouflage of good deeds and spirituality, presenting to the world a version of ourselves we believe to be pleasing and acceptable. Sadly, by default, we are giving power to the very thing that is crushing and ultimately destroying us. We quietly die inside through the loneliness and pain of not being truly known.

To be known is what we truly crave. Deep down it’s all we long for. Not more accomplishments, but acceptance. Not more possession, but to be truly seen; to be accepted and loved.

Here, I believe, is the heart of our problem: how we see ourselves is often in opposition to how God sees us. 

What we say about ourselves (or what others say about us that we accept and believe) is often contrary to what God says about us. 

Understanding the truth of how God feels about us, and what He says about us, will therefore radically alter our perspective. Tomorrow we’ll find out how.