More Power to YouSample

My Purpose Is to Enjoy God Forever

Lie: “God tolerates me.”

Have you ever felt like you’re not doing enough for God? Maybe deep inside you think you don’t:

· Pray enough

· Attend church enough

· Share your faith enough

· Change the world enough

One of the reasons the Accuser keeps telling you you’re not doing enough for God is he wants you to see God as a taskmaster and a tyrant. He wants you to believe God doesn’t really love you; he merely tolerates you. Why? Because if the Accuser can convince you that you’re a spiritual failure who has to earn God’s approval, then he is more likely to persuade you to quit trying altogether.

Yet, from the beginning God wanted only one thing from you: you.

The Savior has spoken love over you since time’s first tick—when He fashioned you, when you took your first breath. God did not recoil when you released your first cry. He leaned in. God did not retreat in your most regrettable adolescent moment. He provided safe refuge. God did not withdraw when you raised your fist at him in anger. He opened his arms toward you. God never went silent on you, even when you went silent on him.

God cherishes you more than you cherish yourself. He adores you so much that when you were far from him, he sent his only Son, Jesus, to die for you so he could walk hand in hand with you forever (Romans 5:8). When God looks at you, he sings, dances, and shouts for joy (Zephaniah 3:17). Oh, how God enjoys you!

This is not a one-way relationship. As God delights in you, you are invited to find your delight, your greatest joy, in him. One of the most powerful ways I’ve discovered to increase my enjoyment of God is to linger in his presence. In other words, I don’t have to end each project, each prayer, with a frantic plunge into the next item on my list. I can take time to sit in the holy silence—and so can you.

I allow my soul and the fibers of my being to rest in his fierce love. 

The next time you pray, rather than rush off to the next item on your to-do list, pause to linger. Ask God what’s on his heart, and then sit in silence to hear his answer. Allow the love of God to envelop you, rest in his sacred shalom, and know his joy in being with you.

When the Accuser whispers that God only tolerates you, tell him to go peddle his lies elsewhere. Because you know the truth. God is madly in love with you, and you are created to enjoy him forever.