King of the Hill

Although many of us probably haven't played the game "King of the Hill" in quite some time, the goal of that game and the mentality that drives us to play it permeates almost every area of our lives. Whether it's the ballfield, or the boardroom, or the bedroom, we all want to be the king of the hill. We all want to be the last man or woman standing. We all want to be recognized and honored as the very best. We all desire to be the greatest.

And yet, this desire can put us in some pretty bad spots and result in some pretty ugly things. This desire forces you to keep others at an arms length because they are a threat to your reign on the hill. This desire rips the joy and peace out of life because everything becomes a competition to win and battle to fight. This desire makes people sacrifice family and friends for the sake of succeeding. This desire forces people to sacrifice and give in on their standards and morals just to get to or stay on the top of the hill. This desire turns people into achievement and accomplishment junkies and they base their entire worth or the worth of others on plaques, promotions or praise.

So what do we do with this incessant need to be great? How do I, can I even, balance this desire with my Christianity? And is God pleased or angered by my need and desire to be great? Am I just succumbing to pride and arrogance or is there something good in and behind all of this?



Anyone struggle with this same desire? How does it manifest itself in your life? What do we do about it?

The End of Beauty As We Know It

The end of beauty as we know it? Well, not really, it's just the end of the beauty portion of our desire study. But before we move on, there are a few more things to consider when it comes to our hearts yearning for beauty.

The first is this - Psalm 116:16 – “O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant…you have freed me from my chains”. God offers us freedom – and although that takes on many different forms, I think it most certainly includes freedom from the burden of self, and in particular the burden of self-created and self-sustained beauty! He offers us freedom from the mirror. Freedom from the all consuming mentality that everything begins and ends and revolves around me. Freedom from the endless pursuit to look and be and make myself "beautiful" in the world's eyes.

In place of all of that, we are freed to fully and completely experience, enjoy and make a big deal out of the most beautiful and most important reality in all of life – God himself. The person who is truly and eternally beautiful is the person who has been freed from a personal obsession with their own physical beauty and instead seeks to draw attention and glory to the eternal beauty of the Lord! God did not save us to make a big deal out of us or to free us to go out and make a big deal out of ourselves. He saved us so that we would be freed and allowed to make a big deal out of Him and His beauty. You need to live for and seek out a beauty that is so much greater and grandeur than you are. And in the process, you become that which you desire!

The second idea is this: Romans 1:25 – “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” Are we not falling into this same trap? We may not be bowing down to golden calfs or wooden poles, but we are bowing down to and worshipping the human body. Just look at how we spend our time and money and where our eyes and mind tend to wander. What we need to think about is this: yes the body of a beautiful woman is a glorious thing, yes the body of a Spartan man is breathtaking and awe inspiring, but how much more glorious, how much grandeur, how much more beautiful must be the One be who made it all?

We incorrectly assume that the beauty we see and can behold, particularly in the human body, is the climax and pinnacle of all beauty. That the human body and the beauty we see in it is worthy of our pursuit, praise and devotion. But it is not. The body is a beautiful thing, but not nearly as beautiful as the One who orginally designed and spoke it into being. God made the body beautiful, not so we would become consummed by its beauty, but so that we would be drawn to and consummed by His beauty, the One who makes all things beautiful. I'm afraid that too many of us are worshipping created things instead of and in place of the creator. And in so doing we diminish the beauty that is in the temporal things, and miss out on the eternal beauty, the true beauty that lies behind and made them all.

(Lauren, thanks for everything)

You Are So Beautiful To Me

Some say being skinny is beautiful, but others see weight as a marker of beauty and vitality. Some say being completely natural and of the earth is beautiful, others say decorating yourself or wearing all sort of accessories and makeup is beautiful? Who's right? Who's wrong? Who do I listen to when it comes to satisfying the desire of my heart to be beautiful?

None of them? All of them?

In all reality, I really shouldn't listen to any of them because none of the "experts" have the final say when it comes to beauty. None of them made beauty in the first place. None of them are the author, originator or perfector of beauty. None of their opinions really matter any more than mine do. Shoot, if I can just make up what is beautiful then how about this: receeding hair lines, chicken legs, and little pooch bellies are now the true mark of beauty! And I am the fairest one of them all!

But it doesn't work like that. Beauty is not up to me. Beauty is not up to the designers. Beauty is not up to those with the airbrushes. Beauty is up to God.

And the last time I checked, He thinks you and I are pretty hot!

Psalm 45:10-11 - "Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your
father's house. The king is enthralled by your beauty!"

Song of Solomon 4:7 - "You're beautiful from head to toe, my dear love, beautiful beyond
compare, absolutely flawless!"

You see, God does not make or surround Himself with ugly things. And we are told that He has created and purposefully placed every part of us, He has invited us into his table, and He has vowed to be our spouse and our lover. So you put two and two together.

The accounts of creation make it clear - you and I are the apex and climax of the whole world. You and I are the most glorious and most beautiful part of all that God has made. According to God, you exist, your freckles, your height, your hair line, your chicken legs, your everything, to make Him look glorious and beautiful. You are the canvas that displays in the best way possible the greatness and beauty of God. Your salvation is meant to put the glory of God's beauty and grace on display before the whole world. Your resurrected body will echo God's beauty through the halls of eternity. It doesn't matter what anybody else might say (especially the John's of this world) - You are the beauty of God. You are so beautiful.

Let that sink in. You are the beauty of God. You are so beautiful.

You are the beauty of God. You are so beautiful.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

Remember the rest of the saying: "Who is the fairest of them all?"

But who cares?! Well, we do! Just look at the sheer amount of time, $, and energy we spend trying to enhance our appearance and become more attractive and beautiful. We want to be the fairest of them all! Whether it's beauty salons, beauty magazines, beauty tv programs, or gym memberships, diet plans, and plastic surgeries we are a people driven by a desire for beauty.

But how are all of those "beauty aids" working out for us? Do all of the cosmetics and accessories make us feel truly beautiful? If so, then why are so many women so depressed and dejected about their appearance? Why do so many women hurt themselves, starve themselves and literally tear themselves apart over how unattractive they feel they are? If so, then why are so many guys so insecure about themselves, hiding behind the weight bench or the designer clothes trying to convince others, and maybe themselves, that they are attractive and desirable?
If all of those beauty aids satisfy our desire for beauty, they why do most of us feel so ugly?

And yet, we still ask the question, "Who is the fairest of the them all?"

And it really comes down to this: Whose voice will I listen to when it comes to answering this question? Whose opinion will I value and whom will I seek out to affirm or reject my beauty?
Those in the entertainment industry? Those who twist and alter reality? Those who change the way a woman looks with an airbrush and a computer program? Or how about people like Ralph Lauren or Michael Haney (Editor of G.Q. magazine)? Or how about a boyfriend or girlfriend?
Since when did they become the ultimate authority on beauty? What makes them know any
more about beauty than anyone else for that matter?!

Whether it's all of the things that I can slap on, smear in, inject, or digest, or the fickle opinion of others who are just as desperate and thirsty for beauty as I am, there has to be another way. There has to be a better way to taste and know and become beauty.

zzz...Bored...zzz

Extreme sports. Adrenaline junkies. The latest technology and newest innovations. The most recent Hollywood blockbuster. Traveling to exotic places. Super star athletes. Cars...cars...and more cars...!

What is it with our amazement and addiction to these things? Simple - our inherent desire for fascination! We all long to be amazed, to be inspired, intrigued, captivated, left in awe! We all want to be blown away by something or someone. We want bigger, faster, stronger, more amazing, more captivating, more, more, more.

But the amazing thing about all of this is that despite all of the avenues that are readily available to help “satisfy” this desire, i.e. sports, $, things, adventures, drugs, porn, etc., to be honest with you, I am still bored!

All of these avenues actually disappoint more often than not! I could always keep trying to go for the newest and most exhilerating thing, but I really feel like I would just end up at the same place I am right now. Eventually I would run out of options and feel just as bored! And that is exactly where our society is today. With all of the stuff and opportunities we have, we are still an incredibly bored people! Why do movie stars practically thrive on "drama", or why do athletes have to pursue dangerous and illegal activity on the side? Why? Because, even with all that they have, they still hunger for a deeper fascination.

No amount of finite things could ever fill an infinite hole and longing. No amount of possessions, no new experiences, no second, or third or fourth marriages, nothing.

We have to look to the infinite to satsify this desire.

What does that look like or mean to you? What things have you been looking to/searching for/clawing after to bring you fascination? How long did it last? Are you still bored?

Looking For Love in All The Wrong Places-

Here are some other things to think about as we continue to discuss our desire for unconditional love.

1. Love and worth spring forth naturally from desirability

You see we typically feel that our value is derived from our contributions or our performance, but that simply is not true. There is something much greater and much deeper going on there. A typical home in Albuquerque costs around $200,000. The same exact house, same square footage, same size lot, etc. out here in Malibu would cost over 1 million dollars! What’s the difference? The quality of the home? The usability of the home? No. The difference is desirability. A greater number of people desire the house out here, for a number of reasons. But because of the demand, it has higher value. Now think about this, your value comes not from what you do, or the contributions you make, or even from the mistakes you make, but from the simple fact that the God of the Universe desires you. You are in high demand, therefore, you have great value.

2. Many of us have a misunderstanding that God loves us less when we sin or go against his will

What we fail to realize and grasp is that there is a huge difference between immaturity and rebellion. God knows that we are but dust and ashes, that we are weak and fragile, and that we are all very young in our Christian walk. So when we mess up, God doesn’t blast us or rebuke us or stop loving us. Just as a mother wouldn’t have blasted or rebuked or stopped loving her children because they weren’t walking or talking or using utensils right out of the womb. It takes time to develop and grow and God knows that. God knows it takes time to mature and become what He intended you to become and he loves you all the more as you struggle through that maturity process.

Any thoughts?

Stinky Faces

It's the most fundamental and critical of all the desires of the human heart. The desire to be enjoyed, the desire to be liked, the desire to be accepted, or as we are going to refer to it, the desire to be loved unconditionally.

We want to be fully known, to be real, to be genuine and to just be ourselves.
We want to know that if we lay all our cards out on the table, we won’t have to worry about everybody else cashing in and walking away, either out of fear or disgust.
We want to feel loved, needed and important just because of who we are, and not what we do.
We want to know that if we have a bad day, or a bad week, or a bad year, we will still be loved.

Basically, we want to know that if we were a stinky face, someone would still love us!

But, we primarilly act on this desire by becoming obsessed with gaining the approval and love of others. And the only problem with that is it causes us to live fake, tentative, and hidden lives; afraid that at any moment the "real us" will be found out and the love will stop.

How foolish it is, though, to live this way and to look to someone else to fulfill this desire because everybody else is struggling with and searching for the same exact thing! So how in the world could they possibly give me something they don’t even have!?

But where should we go then? Should we just conclude that the fickle, merit based love we have experienced thus far in life is as good as it gets? Should we just throw our hands up and stop searching for unconditional love because we are tired of being dissappointed? Or should we allow our desire to be loved to push us past earthly relationships and draw us to something and someone so much greater?

In Malichi 1:1-2, God stands up among all of the fake, cheap imitations of love and proclaims "I love you!" But, we respond with doubt and disbelief. "How have you loved us God?!"

How would you answer this question and how do passages like Isaiah 49:15-16 , Isaiah 62:4 , Jeremiah 31:3, Psalm 18:1-19, and Ezekiel 16:4-14 help us to answer this question?

Desire Intro

In the Bible I find several amazing claims that are completley liberating and fascinating to me:
1. God has made us to be creatures of desire. For all of humanity desires such things as
beauty, greatness, fascination, unconditional love, intimacy, etc.

2. It is wrong to try to suppress or repent of these desires. Instead we need to see that they
are a purposeful and intentional part of who we are, and thus, we should seek to intensify
those desires to the degree that we stop settling for cheap imitations and truly start seeking
after the true source and fountainhead of satsifaction.

3. And God himself proclaims and promises that He is all of that and more. He promises to
reach out his hand and offer us the deepest and most enduring happiness and delight that we
could ever know or experience. Not from God, as if He were a means to pleasure, but in God,
because He is the source and fulfillment of all pleasure*.

So, desire. What are yours, and are they strong enough to forsake and disregard all of the lesser, cheaper imitations of the world in the hope that there is true delight and satisfaction somewhere out there?