Man Is Made By God -- Like God-- To Pleasure God

By Author: John Cragg
Total Articles: 3
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I was in a restaurant reading a magazine while waiting for an appointment. I wasn't really focused, but I was focused on not eavesdrop on the conversation of two women behind me. But I had two problems in my effort. First, they were eighteen inches behind me and shouting like their hearing aids were turned too low. Second, it was painfully interesting, like watching a a horror movie. One woman was reporting on yet another an abusive spouse, her third. It must be something I'm doing. I thought her statement had a high probability of being true. Then she said: There has got to be a man out there who will love me as much as I love him and will do as much for me as I do for him.

I gulped. I did not say a word. I could not say a word. It was not my conversation; I was just inadvertently, or shamelessly, eavesdropping. So, I went on reading about the economy, gas pricesthat's it. That's what I'm doing. Who am I kidding? My mind was now totally absorbed by what was being said.

Then the other woman said: you have got to stop measuring the quality of your life by how you are doing with the current man in ...
... your life. The friend replied: But isn't that the purpose of life; finding your soul mate? I almost fell out of out of my seat. I wanted to yell: No! That is not the purpose of life!

But if she does not know that she is made by God, like God, for God, she will miss the real purpose of life and try to fill that void with whatever seems right. It is a common human pursuit, and it is a totally hopeless one. She was trying to fill up what Pascal called the ‘God-shaped vacuum' with her husband. But I pity the man in that spot. He will never measure up. It would be like the time my then 5-year old son put on my shoes. He just could not fill it. Sometimes we try to fill the void within with money, possessions, acclaim, or recreation and on and on and on. However, the only thing that will ever fill the God-created, and God-shaped vacuum inside us is --- God Himself.

When the Prodigal Son came to himself, he turned from his pigpen and towards the Father. Two earthly factors were used by God to turn this young man in the right direction.

His great need.
His vision of the Father's house.
If he had no need, would he have thought of the Father and how well fed His hired men are? If he had no vision of the Father's house, would he have had an idea that his circumstances could be better, or would he have known where to go?

I am not so sure that need is such a bad thing. As I think through my life, need has been used by God to help me face and change things that needed to be changed that would otherwise been left unchanged.

When we who are in the Father's house, encounter a person in need, it is most likely that he has no vision for life outside the pigsty. He has accepted his lot in life and he is hoping you will fulfill your role in his life by throwing him a corncob from time to time. But the Father is watching down the road for the lost. God the Father is not satisfied that he stay with the pigs and merely survives. Our Lord is waiting for him to come home. Yet, unlike the Prodigal, he has no understanding of the longing Father. He has no vision for the Father's house or the Way, Jesus Christ.

Sally was a mentor for Mary, a nine year-old girl. When Sally came to pick her up for their two hours together, the little girl handed Sally $3.67 She then asked her if they could run an errand for her mom on the way home and pick up a bag of ice. Mom did not have a car. Sally said she would be glad to pick up the ice for her mom, and then asked if they were having a party. The little girl said no. Then why do you need a bag of ice Sally questioned? ‘Because we are out.' came the simple and puzzled response.

Don't you make your own ice? Sally continued.
You can make ice? Teresa asked with amazement.
Sure you can. I will show you.

So they went to the store for ice trays, stopped in at Sally's house to fill the trays and put them in the freezer. Then they left for their planned trip to the Arboretum. On the way home they stopped at Sally's house to pick up the frozen trays.

The girl was stunned. What a day of new things. In one day, she had walked into a room made by the branches of a weeping willow and in the same day she had opened the freezer to find that she had made ice.

Sometimes all it takes is for one parent to leave the house - to give up in a way God never does -- and common knowledge becomes uncommon; often for generations.

Now, one of the girl's jobs in the house is that of being the icemaker. That regular $3.67 expenditure can be used for other things. I imagine that every now and then when the sound of the crack and tumble of ice from tray to dish is heard, there is a thought of the friend who introduced the family to ice trays. A simple need is met in a way that better enables the family to find their own way in life. A mentor is not Santa, but one who knows the way.

If a family can lose a vision for such a simple thing as making ice, they can lose a vision for the Father's house and His ways. When simple needs are met within in the context of relationship, it leads to further opportunity to point to the better way, God's way.

We are not called to merely fill the perceived needs of those around us whether that be for ice, or any of the other sparkling, shiny things of earth that fascinate so. We, God's children, are called to be conduits of the eternal needs of the lost and hurting around us, and that task starts - always - with a relationship, and the taking of time to build one. This is precisely how God is building His Church, a living Temple, one living stone at a time on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ.

We need 269 more children sponsored.
It costs $450 a year to pay for the training and support
that keeps one mentor on this mission field for one year.

Please contact our staff at (631) 242-5101 to make a contribution or visit our site for more info at http://christianmentor.com/liym/liym/newsletter/1208manmadebygod.html.
John Cragg is the director of Long Island Youth Mentoring, a Christian big brother type organization for at risk children. They now support over 600 children with Christian mentors and support dozens of new organizations they have helped grow all over the world. This organization can really use your support by visiting http://christianmentor.com.