think God’s heartbeat
Throughout my high school years serving my church youth group, I was like person who had no vision. I faithfully served God and my friends, but there was no big picture perspective and no understanding about what my service was all about. I served because I loved God and my church, and also because it was the right thing to do. I lived as a Christian unrestrained and undisciplined as a result of having no vision. The summer before I went to college, the seeds of a vision for the glory of God were planted through a week-long retreat organized by a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in my area. The students attending were fortunate to have the author of the book Unveiled at Last, Bob Sjogren, as one of the speakers that summer. For me, I realize that I first developed a passion for missions and a passion for revival before I noticed a heart passion for the glory of God.
As a Christian for four years, I realized that I was approaching my relationship with God with an attitude of what could I get out of it. When I read the Bible, I was looking for what passages and verses applied to me. Sjogren uses this illustration:
As high schoolers we were thrilled the moment our yearbooks finally arrive. Yet let’s be honest, none of us looked for the principal’s picture, and a few searched out our best friend or sweetheart. We went for “good ol’ number one.” We wanted to see ourselves, and we studiously searched the index for all possible references to our names, eager to see our reputation rise in the eyes of the student body.
Little has changed. Over and again, as we “study” the Bible, we are really looking out for ourselves. . . . Unfortunately, what we’ve really done is written ourselves in as the main characters – the protagonists of God’s Word.
It was clear pretty quickly that I had the man-centered or self-centered perspective of God’s word that he was talking about. When he asked the question, “Why did Jesus Christ come to earth?” I was part of the 99 percent of people who respond by saying he came to die for man’s sins. It is a correct answer, but it focuses on what I got out of the deal: forgiveness. Someone would a God-centered perspective would say that Christ’s ultimate purpose was to glorify the Father.
As I was approaching God’s word in a very small focused way, I was making God into a small personal God. A personal caring God which was so important for me to understand as a new Christian was only a glimpse of who God really was. I fell for his next test questions as well when Sjogren asked us, “Who is the God of the Muslims? Who is the God of the Hindus? Who is the God the Atheists?” I was eager to show off what I had learned in school, and quickly shouted out what I believed to be the correct answers. Allah for Muslims, many gods for Hindus, and no one for Atheists. Wrong! There is one God, and He is God of all peoples whether they worship Him or believe He exists or not. This is basic monotheism and I was blinded by only seeing God as my God, and God of the Christians when He has a heart for all nations and all people.
You would think that this would somehow take away from the intimacy and love I felt from God, but it really did more to increase it. Before my view of God was small so the amount he loved me was small. Now my view of God was becoming bigger. It was not just my God who loved me, or the Christian God who loved me – the God of the whole universe died for me and gave Himself up for me that I might live and have a relationship with Him. I was beginning to understand God more.
Throughout the week of seminars, I realized that I had been reading the Bible as 66 separate books. I discovered that it was one book, with one introduction, one story, and one conclusion with a unifying theme throughout from Genesis to Revelations describing God’s heartbeat: missions. Genesis 12:2,3 points to this theme:
"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
This Abrahamic covenant is repeated five times in Genesis in order to emphasize God’s passion for reconciling the world to Him. Furthermore, the third time God makes this promise, he swears by Himself because “God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised” (Hebrews 6:17). Sjogren explained to us that this theme had two parts: the top line and the bottom line. The top line refers to God’s desire to bless Abraham/Israel above all other nations and set them apart. The bottom line is God’s desire to use Abraham/Israel to bless every other people group and all nations in the world. Through this lens, I realized that I was reading half of the Bible, those parts that pertained to how God wanted to bless me, but was blind to those parts where he wanted me to be a blessing to others. As we went through Bible story after Bible story, this dual theme of “Blessed to be a Blessing” jumped out at me on every page. From the Old Testaments Stories, to Jesus, to Paul, and through the book of Revelations, God’s heartbeat was for the nations. The story ends with a picture of heaven where the elders and living creatures are singing a song: “ . . . because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9, emphasis added).
Missions: to bring the message of the gospel to other people groups.
After the week-long retreat, I bought a copy of Sjogren’s book wanting to keep what I had learned fresh in my mind. The week was a life-changing experience for me. After reading the book again, I knew that Sjogren’s warning on the back cover of the book really was not joke: “BEWARE: This material has a proven track record of altering long term goals and dreams. It is only for those who are serious about obeying what God reveals to them.” Now, I believe that everything that I do has God’s plan for the world in mind. Through this teaching God did not form in me a mission to work and strive for, but a confidence in seeing His plan and what He’s doing and what God wants to do through me. After I had learned all about God’s heart for missions, I learned that passion for missions was not about accomplish a task, but a God-centered perspective. It is about having a perspective that looks not to what we receive, but what God receives – glory. Whether it be growing in heart character, Christian service, missions or worshipping, our goal is to have a heart passion for glory of God.
Finally, a passion to see the glory of God is another way a passion for God Himself manifests itself. It encapsulates our role as seekers of an encounter, intimacy and knowledge of God. Moses said it best: “Now show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18). And God responds to him saying, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you” (Exodus 33:19). God is talking about His own character, all that God is, to pass in front of and to be known by Moses. To have a heart for God’s glory is a desire to know God. And it’s from this heart for God’s glory that the passion for missions and passions for revival stems forth.
Observation - Do you think of God as the protagonist in the Bible or do you write yourself in as the main character?
Understanding - From you understanding, how is God’s heartbeat for the nations reflected in the Bible?
Application - Is there a certain nation that God has put on your heart? Pray for that nation today.
