More than Imaginable - Martin Wiles

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT

They rested in the fireplace doing nothing; we rested in our recliners and endured the cold.

In the previous townhouse my wife and I lived in, the gas logs served only as decoration. We fired them up a few times, but no heat emanated from them. They merely looked pretty on a cold winter night and made for a cozy atmosphere.

When we moved to another townhouse—which was built on the same pattern as the one we moved from—we assumed the gas logs performed the same purpose. The winter was unusually cold.

As we sat around opening Christmas presents with our daughter and her family, my wife remarked how we’d never used the logs. Our daughter’s boyfriend—a handyman of sorts—remarked that he'd take a look at them. Within a few minutes, he had them lit. Within thirty minutes the house was nice and toasty. We had a quick source of heat, but didn’t know we had it.

The same thing is often true in my own life. Paul says we can’t imagine what God has in store for those who love Him—and sometimes I don’t even try to find out.

Like most people—and most believers—I’ve fallen into the doing trap, thinking that only as I do for God will He pour out blessings on me. Yet, Jesus didn’t say the greatest command was doing good works in His name. He said it was loving Him with our entire hearts, souls, and minds.

Jesus demonstrated the essence of the command in His interaction with Martha while visiting her, Mary, and Lazarus. Martha—the good host—ran around doing. Mary chose to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen. When Martha objected to her sister’s laziness, Jesus informed her Mary had chosen the better thing.

Fulfillment in life will never come from merely doing. Only when the doing flows from a heart filled with God will satisfaction come. God has much in store for us, but we have to experience it in the right order: spiritual disciplines that bring us closer to God and then the doing of good works.

Don’t look for your good works to bring God’s abundance unless you’ve first drawn closer to Him. Get filled with Jesus first. Then He’ll fill you so you can fill others.

Tweetable: Are you filled up so you can fill others?

Prayer: Father, draw us closer to You so we’ll have the desire to draw closer to others. 

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