I’m studying the book of Hosea this morning and thinking about our heart’s tendency to seek idols that we think will satisfy our longings. Jan Meyers in her book Listening for Love,speaks of how God lovingly pursues us in these places:
“I don’t know what your golden places are – a relationship, a place, a position from which God seeks to loosen your grip. But as you think of them, I’m sure you would agree: the greatest miracle is that any of our hearts would call God good in the midst of letting go. It’s hard. Relinquishing things that matter to us is difficult. And counting the cost of what we must relinquish in order to follow Jesus (which involves taking inventory of what we’re going to lose) is sad. Over time we realize we are leaving behind things that were not big enough for our heart’s passion anyway, but as it is happening, it hurts like crazy. Only Peter knows what it took, in his heart, to really walk away from his nets. As Jesus says, “Follow me,” as he whispers, “Let go,” I am the only one who knows the personal golden inventory he wants me to relinquish.
Now, before you start thinking of God as one big incinerator full of destruction, remember that love, marriage, children, career, and even reputation are beautiful things. It is the way we cling to them as though they were life itself that the fire is after. Jesus never invites me to eradicate the beautiful, life-giving desire for a baby. But he does invite me and each of the moments with others’ children to let him love me in the midst of the unmet desire. He invites me to see that the desire itself is not life, but rather it leads me to life because it leads me to my need for him.” Jan Meyers, Listening for Love
