Which God Do You Choose?
Jonathan EdwardsGreat quote from Jonathan Edwards this morning. A healthy test for how our hearts are towards God is to whom do we cling when we are in bad straits:
A man's choice determines his state. He who chooses God for his portion and prefers him above all other things, is a godly man because he chooses and worships him as God. To respect him as God is to respect him above all other things. If any man respects him as God, his God he is.
.......Enquire, therefore, how it is with you, whether you prefer God above all other things. It may be sometimes be difficult for people to determine this to their satisfaction. Ungodly people may be deluded with false affections; godly people in dull frames may be at a loss about it.
When you have occasion to manifest by your practice which you prefer - when you must cling to one or the other, and must forsake other things or forsake God - is it your manner, practically speaking, to prefer God above all other things, even to those earthly things to which your hearts are most wedded?
Reader Comments (6)
I think questions of these sort can either serve as a healthy occasional reality check or as an unhealthy means of obsession.
yep, fair comment. I guess a greater percentage are less rigorously interested in self-examination than the percentage that are likely to unhelpfully obsess, but point taken.
But either way, the test ought to produce assurance and comfort in those who desire God, and discomfort only in those who don't, by providing a practical test for motivations
Actually, my point was that it can easily become just the opposite ("do I really prefer God above all things ?"), looking inside ourselves is no a great way of finding assurance.
Maybe it would be easier to ask the opposite question as an evaluation, do you think. Namely "am I feeling apathetic towards God at the moment?"
Clearly if we take the extreme case scenario then you are right - if my assurance is dependent on me being and feeling perfectly inclined to God, then there is never any assurance, ever. But I still think Edwards provides a useful indicator by asking us to consider where are heart is inclining on matters where we actually need to put faith into practice
The problem is that the times one should be asking this question are generally the times when this question is furthest from our minds, thus posing the question itself tends to act more as a flay to tender consciences than anything else.
Sure - except the remedy most likely to suggest itself by posing the question that way is to try and make ourselves more enthusiastic and joyful - and the quickest way to remove joy is tell a man to 'be joyful'.
All true. And shows how much we need each other in grace-filled community. "jollying myself up" is inevitably spiritually counter-productive, but having good friends who encourage me at the times the question should be on my mind is often much more helpful