Paul lived in a constant state of godly tension and divine discontent. He expressed his unwavering hunger for God in the midst of a life littered with constant adversity and impossible obstacles. He repeatedly followed the Lord to the very gates of death and worshiped Him every step of the way.
The same man who said he had learned to be content in whatever condition he found himself actually lived perpetually in a condition of divine discontent. The apostle Paul wasn't lying or stretching the truth-he had learned to find holy contentment in the midst of divine discontent.
This is the pattern of a chronic God Chaser. Paul was well practiced in the art of "running his fingers endlessly over the folds of the veil" for the latest place of access to divinity. This man lived with divine discontent. "Wait a minute. Didn't Paul say he had learned to be content in any state or condition?" you may ask. Yes, he did. He also went on to define what he meant by being "content": "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need"
Divine discontent differs from human discontent in one all-important way: You experience divine discontent because you hunger for more of God; you long to do more and accomplish more in His name according to His purposes.
Human discontent usually centers upon the unfulfilled wants and desires of the fleshly trio-me, myself, and I. At best, it focuses on the unfulfilled wants and needs of other people, but not necessarily at the instigation of God. As we noted in The God Catchers concerning Paul's life:
This Pharisee-turned-apostle was a chronic God Chaser who constantly reached out for more of God, for more souls, and for more victory over the arrayed forces of darkness. His life was a great search for one more encounter with God and one more opportunity to please and worship the One who died for him. His writings express a rich rhetoric of divine frustration: "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it…I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."
Perhaps it isn't wrong to invest your life in satisfying certain kinds of human discontent; but would you rather invest your life in God's best or man's best? Do you prefer the rewards received from pleasing men or the rewards received only through the pursuit of God and His purposes? (The choice truly is yours and yours alone.)
It should be understood that God Chasers fulfill their divine mission in countless ways-including ways not normally seen inside the four walls of a church or meeting hall. Many fulfill their divine call by feeding the poor, caring for the sick, and by supplying the needs of the destitute across the globe. Your earthly occupation has little if anything to do with your ability to chase God unless you do something clearly unethical or immoral to make a living. Simply pursue Him as your first love until you know what He wants you to do, then do it with all of your might. (Most people who criticize and call "unspiritual" those who meet human needs in Jesus' name rarely venture out of their padded pews to meet any needs but their own.) God used a Carpenter to redeem the world, a fishermen to preach the first evangelistic message, a table waiter to heal the sick, and a classically trained Jewish rabbi and seminarian to reach the non-Jewish world and write most of the instruction manual for the Christian church. Their common qualification was their chronic pursuit of God.
Somehow, I can't picture Paul settling down into a comfortable church pew. He would keep seeing that prize and start "shadowboxing" in the middle of a service and ruin everything.
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