This is another installment in a series that has been adapted from my 11-part CD teaching series on A. W. Tozer’s spiritual classic, The Pursuit of God.

God will not force us to give up our toys, our trinkets, or our sandcastles. His approach is that of a good lover: never coercive, always persuasive. He holds out to us that which is far more appealing and invites us to choose that which our heart truly longs for. When I weigh what he promises to give me versus what I am able to give myself, it is like comparing a gourmet meal, exquisitely prepared by a master chef, to a brown bag of leftovers retrieved from the bottom of a dumpster. There’s no comparison. Ultimately, all he wants to do is take away that which is destined for the dump and replace it with that which will satisfy our spiritual hunger pangs and nourish our depleted souls.

Like the beaded necklaces they throw at Mardi Gras, we willingly make fools of ourselves for that which in a moment of clouded revelry seem so valuable, but which in the light of sober observation turns out to be cheap and ultimately worthless. Our heavenly Father is grieved watching the heirs to his estate trade away a chance at his eternal riches for tomorrow’s garbage. And while the choice must remain with us, he will out of his loyal love, use pain to slowly pry our fingers open, one by one, until we see that what we had gripped so tightly, was just a cheap plastic bauble. Only then can he give us that which is exquisitely beautiful, reserved for those who know value when they see it.

• Have you come to realize that God has bigger plans for you than you could ever have for yourself?