If you don't know what you desire, then you're not present with yourself. What do you desire? What do you want? What do you really want?
This is where we get into some trouble. Our hearts are often drawn to imposter desires. An imposter desire, such as a perfect relationship, job, or house, for example, seeks to satisfy our heart's deep desire. But it never does.
It's always out of reach. It's always broken.
And when you get those imposter desires, you discover they're not enough. You're always in this place where it's just not enough. A lot of us have started to internalize this idea that nothing works out for me. It happens for him, it happens for her, but for me, it doesn't really work like it does for them.
Maybe it's started to distort the way you think, and you're starting to slip into what we'll call today quiet quitting. Quiet quitting is when you don't actually quit but kind of quit on the inside. So, I didn't leave my job, but I didn't do anything extra. I didn't quit, but I am disengaged. I didn't quit my marriage, but I'm not taking you out on any dates. I didn't quit my marriage, but I'm not thinking about it; I'm just showing up. I'm eating dinner and watching tv; I'm going to bed. I didn't quit. I didn't sign papers, I didn't walk away, but I've walked away. That's quiet quitting.
That's where a lot of us are. You didn't quit raising your kids, but you haven't been doing much, right? You didn't quit on your job. You didn't quit on your friends. But when was the last time you called? You keep showing up for work, and you keep showing up at home, but there's no spark; there's no focus. You've already quietly quit. We do this in so many areas of our lives because of disappointment. I've been disappointed once. I've been disappointed twice; I've been disappointed three times, four times, five times. And now you don't even know what you desire because you've been quitting for so long.
What if today, the spirit of Jesus could come upon you, and a new passion, a new desire, a new hunger, and a new longing could grip your heart today?
I love what CS Lewis said, "If we find ourselves with desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world." I was made to know God. I was made for walking with him. I was made to experience his life in me in the context of a sacred community—to know him through others.
Jesus, even now, by his spirit, offers you that life. In John chapter seven, he says, "If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink." That's an open invitation. "If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink whoever believes in me, as the scripture says out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." I wonder if that's been the problem—if it's been unbelief in your soul.
Friend, believe again. Believe again. For too long, you've been quietly quitting. You've had it in neutral, and you're starting to roll backward—now it's time. You don't have to get your act together first. He doesn't say come all who are thirsty and perfect. He doesn't say, come all who are hungry and have worked out all their sin issues. No, he just says, come. He just says, "If you're thirsty, come if you're hungry, come if you're in need, come if you're empty, come if you're tired, come if you have been quitting silently for a long time now, you can come."
He came in flesh and blood. Jesus actually came. And when he lived his life, he lived it as your representative. And when he died on the cross, he did it as your substitute so that he could wash away your sins, make you right with God, and put his spirit inside of you so that he could be close right now
His proximity provides our opportunity. You can come close to God because he already came close to you.
Want to hear more about this? Check out our recent sermon "What Happened In The House" on YouTube.