Daily Fenelon > THE SACRIFICE OF LOVE
THE SACRIFICE OF LOVE
If you follow God only to feel His presence and comfort, then you follow Him for the wrong reasons. Your mind is anxious to know, your heart wants to feel sweet feelings, but you are not willing to follow Christ to the cross. Is this dying to self?
There is refined spiritual ambition in unduly pursuing spiritual gifts. Paul speaks of a better way. "Love does not seek her own." How will you go on to maturity if you are always seeking the consolation of feeling the presence of God with you? To seek pleasure and to ignore the cross will not get you very far. You will soon be trapped in the pursuit of spiritual pleasures.
If you have too tender a childhood in Jesus Christ, you will be in for a hard dme when God starts to wean you away from the sensed comfort of God's presence. Don't live on the porch and think you are in the house! The beginnings of your faith may be accompanied by many wonderful feelings, but this does not mean you are mature. Hold to God alone and do not rely on anything you feel or taste or imagine. You will come to see how much safer this way is than chasing after visions and prophesies.
