“The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” This answer to the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism recognizes something profound about satisfying our heart longings not just in the “forever” of eternity, but in this present life.
John Piper observes, “One reason lust reigns in so many is that Christ has so little appeal. You were created to treasure Christ with all your heart—more than you treasure sex or sugar. If you have little taste for Jesus, competing pleasures will triumph. Plead with God for the satisfaction you don’t have. Quote Psalm 90:14, Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we might rejoice and be glad all our days. Then, look, look, LOOK at the most magnificent person in the universe until you see him the way he is.” (Desiring God)
Our hearts are designed to need to draw pleasure from knowing God. When we are not satisfying our souls by finding delight in God, our souls get out of alignment. Our life veers toward the idols that promise to satisfy our inner longings—success, approval, prestige, security, affirmation, control, pleasure (whatever makes us feel good.)
Here are three thoughts about keeping our hearts aligned by enjoying God:
1) You will never fully enjoy God until you know how much he enjoys you. If as you come into God’s presence, you default to believing that his holiness causes you to be loathsome to him because of your sin, you need to take the gospel from your head to your heart. God always sees you through the lens of Christ’s righteousness imputed to you. Always. He does not feel disgust but fatherly delight in his child. Zephaniah 3:17 tells us, The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. God not only accepts you, he richly enjoys you. Your company is his pleasure, your face his delight!
2) A driven life-style crowds out enjoying God. How ironic. The very purpose for which we are created is pushed aside by our busyness. Gordon MacDonald says it this way: "Our public worlds are filled with a seeming infinity of demands upon our time, our loyalties, our money, and our energies. And because these public worlds of ours are so visible, so real, we have to struggle to ignore all their seductions and demands. They scream for our attention and action. The result is that our private world is often cheated, neglected because it does not shout quite so loudly. It can be effectively ignored for large periods of time before it gives way to a sinkhole-like cave-in." (Ordering Your Private World)
3) Here is a practical idea for enjoying God. Choose one of God’s perfections: his holiness, justice, faithfulness, mercy, creativity, goodness, power, love, consistency, righteousness, compassion, etc. Then tell him how you benefit from that characteristic of his nature.
Psalm 37:4 gives us a command for heart alignment that we easily forget: Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. To “delight ” means to “give your heart pleasure.” May your heart find great pleasure by being intentional about enjoying God. I can think of nothing that glorifies God more than our enjoyment of him!
