Lesser gods vs. One God

                                                   A little food for weekend thought:
      “The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first--wanting to be the centre--wanting to be God, in fact.  That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race...What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’--could set up on their own as if they had created themselves--be their own masters--invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God.  And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”  C.S. Lewis 
     "Whatever controls us is the Lord of our lives."  Tim Keller
     
     That is what we so often desperately seek, isn't it--some measure of happiness outside the realm and rule of Almighty God.  And that's our tendency--put ourselves first, at the center, and allow our desires to dictate our actions in pursuit of what we believe will bring us satisfaction and happiness.  But then it never ultimately does.  For we discover that which begins as the pursuit of our selfish desires inexorably controls and strangles our lives (and worse--the lives of those we love).  
     Only the pursuit of God, only the desire of His highest and greatest brings eternal, perfect, ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction.  As John Piper always says, "God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him"--and to pursue Him above all else is to discover such satisfaction and joy.  
     O Father, help us to renounce all those lesser little gods born of our selfishness and selfish desire to control and instead enable us to fix our eyes upon You--the perfect, glorious, all satisfying, all worthy One.  Might we pursue You with every fiber of our being.  And, remarkably, in that pursuit, find the joy our hearts were after all along.   
     Might we wholly belong this day--and everyday--to only One God.  To God be the glory.