What Do You Want?
During my time alone with the Lord this morning I started wrestling with the proverbial question: what do I want? For some reason the Lord turned my mind toward meditating on the one thing I wanted more than anything else. As soon as the Lord planted that single question in my mind, the inquiry dominated my thinking the remainder of the morning.
If you were asked to answer that question, how would you respond? What one thing do you want? What is the one thing you want more than anything else?
While wrestling with that query, I recalled three people, with three different answers.
The first person I remembered was Solomon. Many of you will recall his exchange in the Bible where the Lord asked him what he wanted. The Bible records the following words:
Do you remember how Solomon responded?
The Bible adds:
God asked Solomon what he wanted, and Solomon requested wisdom and knowledge to lead His people.
If God were to ask you, what is the one thing you want, what would you request?
While in seminary I posed a similar question to several of my friends. I asked them why they were in seminary and what they wanted most out of the seminary experience. Many responded by saying they were in seminary to learn more about ministry, and that they wanted to learn how to preach. A few said they were in seminary to learn more about the Bible, so they could help people do the same thing. A friend who got a late start in his call to ministry surprised me with his answer. My fifty year old comrade in the ministry said he was in seminary to get closer to God than he had ever been before. The Lord brought his response to mind this morning while I was wrestling with the question, what do I want?
What do you want? What is it that you want more than anything else?
The third person I thought about was Paul, when he said what he wanted in the following passage:
More than anything else, Paul said he wanted to know Christ.
What do you want? What is the one thing you want more than anything else? If God were to grant the answer to a single prayer, what would that prayer be? What do you want above all other wants?
Take a few minutes today to think about what you want. Your initial answer may surprise you; that is, if you are honest. Your answer to that question may also change the more you ask it. I know the more I asked myself that question, the more my answer changed. I have even started thinking about what I do not want in order to determine what I do want. So, I ask you one more time: what do you want?
If you were asked to answer that question, how would you respond? What one thing do you want? What is the one thing you want more than anything else?
While wrestling with that query, I recalled three people, with three different answers.
The first person I remembered was Solomon. Many of you will recall his exchange in the Bible where the Lord asked him what he wanted. The Bible records the following words:
That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."
2 Chronicles 1:7
Do you remember how Solomon responded?
The Bible adds:
Solomon answered God, "You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place. Now, LORD God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?"
2 Chronicles 2:8-10
God asked Solomon what he wanted, and Solomon requested wisdom and knowledge to lead His people.
If God were to ask you, what is the one thing you want, what would you request?
While in seminary I posed a similar question to several of my friends. I asked them why they were in seminary and what they wanted most out of the seminary experience. Many responded by saying they were in seminary to learn more about ministry, and that they wanted to learn how to preach. A few said they were in seminary to learn more about the Bible, so they could help people do the same thing. A friend who got a late start in his call to ministry surprised me with his answer. My fifty year old comrade in the ministry said he was in seminary to get closer to God than he had ever been before. The Lord brought his response to mind this morning while I was wrestling with the question, what do I want?
What do you want? What is it that you want more than anything else?
The third person I thought about was Paul, when he said what he wanted in the following passage:
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:10-11
More than anything else, Paul said he wanted to know Christ.
What do you want? What is the one thing you want more than anything else? If God were to grant the answer to a single prayer, what would that prayer be? What do you want above all other wants?
Take a few minutes today to think about what you want. Your initial answer may surprise you; that is, if you are honest. Your answer to that question may also change the more you ask it. I know the more I asked myself that question, the more my answer changed. I have even started thinking about what I do not want in order to determine what I do want. So, I ask you one more time: what do you want?
1 comment:
Awesome post.
Reading things like this keep me grounded and closer to Him in my daily trials and tribulations.
And thanks for doing this blog. 9 times out of 10, there is something I pull out the thoughts here that further magnify what God has put on my heart.
Jason B.
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