Desiring the Experience or Desiring God?

As we deal with the issues surrounding "Experiencing God" and His Will and Purposes for us, we must always ask ourselves the question, "What is it that I seek?" As with His gifts, we are all too often caught up in chasing an "experience" rather than the Person. An emotional high that we can then use to justify or validate our faith.

Read the account given in John 6 about Jesus' feeding of the five thousand.

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!"

- John 6:14

On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

- John 6:22-26

The only reason why these people sought Jesus, even willing to go across the Sea of Galilee to find Him, was so that they could get another free meal after witnessing the miracle of the previous day. Let us examine ourselves; Do we only follow Jesus because of the blessings He has given us?

"Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."

- John 6:27-34

Notice the astonishing demand of the people. Having already witnessed the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, they yet demand a further sign from Jesus so that they may believe His words. For those who continually seek after signs and blessings in order to validate their faith will never be satisfied.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."

So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"

- John 6:35-41

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?

- John 6:60

Let us beware lest we be like those people with Jesus that day. When finally faced with the reality of who Jesus Himself was and His all-satisfying nature, many turned and walked away. (cf. John 6:66) Let us desire Him because He is the One who satisfies us. Let us desire Him for who He is and not what He gives, for that is the difference between a Christ-centred Christianity and a Man-centred sub-Christianity.

Now I am in no way denying or downplaying the role of emotions, for how can one remain "dead" and cold in his spirit when one comes into contact with the One who is Life Himself? (cf. John 14:6) Nor am I saying we should deny or flee from encounters with God, for such times are extremely helpful in building up our faith and showing that God is a God who is with us and does not remain aloof and unconcerned with His creation. But we must always be cautious and circumspect in what we do and why we do it, because it is so easy for us in our flesh to desire what God gives rather than God Himself as well as to build our faith on shaky subjective experiences rather than on the secure nature of God as revealed in His Word.