Living in Continual Ecstasy

Last week I covered the hopelessness of expecting suffering as my lot in life. Now I want to discuss the polar opposite view—expecting to be living in continual ecstasy.

There’s a fallacy in Christendom that leads to apostasy. It is the following: “I am entitled to live on an ever-present mountain top!” Many seeker-friendly pastor-salesmen have used this to falsely entice souls into the faith, only to leave them shipwrecked on the delusion. Left in wake of this lie are bitter, entitled souls angry with a God who has failed to uphold His end of the bargain. Or ADHD Christians flitting and flying about like moths looking for a flame, only to follow the whirl rather than the still small Voice (1 Kings 19:11-13).

Life is not about a carnival of happenings. God’s not a sideshow barker whose job is to keep us entertained. When I believe something must always be happening in order to be happy, I will be led by happenings and not by purpose. I will be driven by a breeze and not by the Wind of the Spirit. At this point, I will be tempted to accept every wind of doctrine just to maintain my addiction.

Life is about Purpose. Purpose is the will of the Father, or its just folly. And though His Will leads me to experience His glory, life’s not about living within a circus of tantalizing experiences. Even if I have a ministry of miracles, I must be undergirded within the common, not the miraculous.

We’ve been sold a bill of goods that has no room for actually living life. Life is about responsibility and investment. And these aren’t the sexy things that keep us mesmerized, but they are the things that make us pleasing. “Well-done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21, 25)

God’s movement is found more in stillness than spectacle, but we’ve trained ourselves to seek Him in the sensational rather than silence. This makes us nothing but starving orphans scampering about for our next crumb to devour. It’s tragic yet common.

Our God finds us behind the plow, under the fig tree, and within our actual lives. This doesn’t mean He is not into festivals or pageantry. Our God loves a good party! It’s just that this is the exception, not the rule. When we make it our rule, we’re primed for delusion and disappointment.

Jesus loves the mundane and practical. He built us to dwell in our common places more than the extraordinary events. We don’t go to the circus everyday – that’s a place we visit on occasion. Where we do go daily is to work. Christ wants to be found by us in our daily routines. It’s there where the soul and spirit finds true satisfaction. Being happy occurs in the happenings. These are as fleeting as our moments. True joy is found in His purpose within the life He’s given me. This is what’s lasting and it’s found in every moment, whether mundane or momentous.

Then He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.” At that moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Suddenly, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
1 Kings 19:11-13 (HCSB)