Obsessed

Just a few years ago it could be said that I was obsessed with the game of golf.  I started playing the game at age 34, and have never been very good at it, but I loved playing the game.  I looked for every opportunity to get out on the golf course.  I was willing to play in the sweltering heat of summer, and the cold, driving rain in the winter.  It didn’t matter.  I just wanted to play.  But then, I took on a major audit project that lasted several years, and it demanded nearly all of my time.  I wasn’t obsessed with my work.  I just had to get it done.  Since that time, I still enjoy playing golf, but I rarely get out to the golf course anymore.

I have a new obsession.  I love to workout!  I find it easy to spend a couple of hours a day at the gym.  I’m obsessive about watching my diet and I make a great effort to get to the gym six or seven days a week.  I read articles about diet and fitness, and if I thought I could make money at it, I probably wouldn’t mind working in the fitness industry.

Several months ago, I had jotted down the title “Obsessed with Jesus Christ” in my iPhone notes.  I’ve seen it on my list, but couldn’t remember what I had in mind when I wrote it down.  Today, as I was running on the elliptical, I thought about how we become obsessed with the things that we love, and wondered what it would look like to be obsessed with Jesus Christ.  Many of us are involved in our churches, our Bible study groups, and other activities that are good, but are we obsessed with Jesus Christ?  Do we seek out opportunities to learn more about him?  Do we long to talk with him regularly?  Are we looking forward to the day that we meet him face to face?  Are we willing to surrender our selfish, fleshly desires so that we can have a closer relationship with him?  I think that’s what it may look like to be obsessed with Jesus Christ. 

I pray that we, the church, will become obsessed with Jesus Christ.  It begins with me, and it begins with you.  It will take the work of the Holy Spirit, because it’s against our human nature. But for “him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,” it is possible.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”  (Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV)