I have been reading Mark Dever's book 9 Marks of a Healthy Church in preparation for our church's Wednesday Bible study this week. In the chapter on conversion, he quotes AW Tozer: "Human nature, as we know it, is in a formative state. It is being changed into the image of the thing it loves."
That statement has struck a chord with me today. Dever makes the comment after this quote saying, "Our lives are like those old Polaroid snapshots. They are slowly but surely developing into a picture of the god we worship" (p. 123).
I thought about this in terms of "who" we are becoming as we develop. "Whoever" we are becoming reveals that which we love -- however & in what direction our character is developing reveals the thing we love and the thing we are chasing after. If we are chasing happiness in the things of the world, we will become more like the world, loving the things of the world, thinking like the world thinks. If we are pursuing Christ & our happiness in Him, then our character will develop accordingly--the fruit that is borne in our life will reflect that pursuit in the fruit of the Spirit, conformity to the character of Christ and obedience to the will of God.
While those who are without Christ are always chasing after happiness in the world because it is their default position, it is sad to see a professing Christian distracted by the world and begin to chase happiness in the world. When that happens, it reveals one of two things: either the person has not been converted truly (cf. Matthew 13, parable of the sower) or the person is converted truly, but has lost their way as a believer like James 5:19-20.
What, rather who, are you chasing today?
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