Sad Truth: There Are People Who Seek For Blessings More Than They Long For God’s Presence

Have you ever felt taken for granted? Have you met people who use your kindness only for their own benefit? People who abuse your goodness to satisfy their pride and greed. This is not uncommon for so many of us. Somehow, we unexpectedly meet people who hurt us in the end. And God is not a stranger to this kind of rejection.

Whether you believe it or not, there are instances when God’s grace was abused. Some people took His kindness for granted. And I am not exempting myself from this. There are times when I also forget God’s mercy in my life to the point that I become entitled to the blessings He gave. I forgot how good He is in my life, and I tend to act as if I’m the victim. But the truth is, I’m surrounded by His presence and love. Sadly, I once prayed for His blessings more than I long for His presence.

Then, God opened my eyes. He made me realize that it was not Him I was after. Instead, all this time, I tried to believe in His words because my heart was so fixated on His blessings. And this sad truth hurts. It’s even hard to accept. I only realized this when God allowed me to go through a painful journey.

There was a season in my life when it seemed like God was not present. My prayers weren’t answered, and I didn’t receive the blessing I expected Him to give. Everything was falling apart. I cried out to God, asking Him for help, and in my despair, I chose to believe that He didn’t love me at all. I thought He hated me because He didn’t give me what I wanted.

Then, a thought pierced through my despair, as if God Himself was asking me, ‘Do you only believe in my love because of the blessings I’ve given you? Do you love me only for what I can give?’ These questions shook me to my core, revealing the true state of my heart.

My heart shattered, because that’s when I realized that I haven’t learn to love Him at all. The problems I went through only revealed what was truly in my heart. I discovered that I only followed Him because of the blessings. After that, I uttered a prayer. I asked Him to teach me how to love Him more. I prayed that He would take away my selfish desires so that I may learn to long for His presence more than anything else.

You see, sometimes we fall into this trap. We tend to assume that God no longer cares for us because He didn’t answer our prayers. But behind every problem and difficulty we face is an opportunity for us to really check what’s in our hearts. Will we still believe in Him even if we can’t see His hands moving? Will we still love Him even when it seems like nothing good is happening? Will we keep our faith in Him despite the storms that we are facing?

It hurts when a child would only follow or do good things for their parents because they know they can give them what they want. It’s painful when we see a husband who only stays kind and generous just for his wife to give him anything. It’s devastating to meet a friend who is only after of the things that you could give them. In the same way, I don’t think God will like it if we only come to receive His blessings and not really long for Him.