We All Want More of God - by Tim Challies

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Mr. Challies is Reformed/Calvinist, but he really doesn't tell us anything about his tradition or how it comes to bear on the topic. He makes numerous assertions about this, seemingly pulled out of thin air. He makes many vague, uninformative statements.

It's mystifying, really. 

He seems to possess a knowledge about things but never tells us what it is. But his presentation is premised on this. Further, he neither appeals to or quotes the Bible, except to assert that "Reformed theology is experiential, but crucially, it constrains itself to the experiences the Bible permits." In contrast, he presents the opposition perspective in the most unflattering way, tilting the debate toward his preferences. 

Further, Mr. Challies believes that having the desire for more of God can be dangerous, but Paul himself writes of his longing: 

Phil. 3:10-15 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Ph. 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, 14 I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. 

Paul had a deep longing for more, but notice his conclusion: 

15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.

The longing for more of God is a function of maturity. The Bible contradicts Mr. Challies. 

Lastly, he neither quotes nor references the Bible. We must deem this Bad Bible Teaching.

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We all want more of God. Anyone who professes to be a Christian will acknowledge a sense of sorrow and disappointment when they consider how little they know of God and how little they experience of his presence. (Wanting more of God is not necessarily connected with disappointment; but we shall allow Mr. Challies to develop his thesis.)

Every Christian or Christianesque (Neologism.)

tradition acknowledges this reality and offers a means to address it. (Will these be means from the Bible?)

Mystics may promise that a deeper experience of God can be had through contemplation. Monastics may promise that a deeper experience of God can be had through practicing his presence. Roman Catholics may promise that a deeper experience of God can be had through the Mass. Proponents of Higher Life theology (This is new to us, despite our 40-plus years as a Christian.)

may promise that a deeper experience of God can be had through a second blessing. Pentecostals may promise that a deeper experience of God can be had through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Though the means are different, the core issue is the same—we feel intuitively that we do not know God or experience his presence as completely as we wish to. We live out our Christian lives with a sense of longing for more—more of God, more of knowing him, more awareness of his nearness and power. (Having piqued our interest, we are curious as to Mr. Challies' solution to this longing.)

I write here for other Christians who hold to Reformed theology and especially for younger ones. I want you to know that you make yourself spiritually vulnerable when you determine that your spiritual longing necessarily indicates a weakness in your faith or practice. (This is a curious assertion. Who thinks this way? Why is it dangerous to think one's faith isn't as strong as it should be? Is the solution really found in Reformed theology?

Paul tells us differently: 

Rom. 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

Rather than warning about a person being weak, Paul tells us: 

Rom. 14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak... 15:1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 

1 Cor. 1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 

2 Cor. 12:9-10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 10 ...For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Weakness is not a door to spiritual vulnerability, it is an avenue to dependence on the power of God.)

For every longing there is a tradition, a church, a book, or a program that promises to satisfy it and people like you can often become spiritual nomads, sojourning among the various traditions to try their solutions. Or you can become spiritual hybrids, integrating a bit of this, a bit of that, and a bit of the other thing, even when they are mutually contradictory. You may even be tempted to reject Reformed theology and practices altogether in favor of something else. (Why would person who adheres to Reformed theology be tempted to abandon it in view of having this longing? Mr. Challies will not explain.)

But I want to encourage you to be patient, to be wise, and to be content.

Here is something that needs to be said about any tradition: None of them will ultimately satisfy us. (Mr. Challies has moved the goalposts. He was talking about various approaches as a means, but now he makes the approaches the goal.)

None can or will actually deliver us to a higher plane of spiritual experience and none will fully satisfy our longing for more. Why is that? Because the longing is unresolvable at the present time. (Oh. His conclusion, but without biblical documentation.)

We can certainly know God better than we do now and can certainly have a deeper experience of his power and presence, (He immediately walks it back.)

but we will never experience it to the degree we long for. (Well, that's certainly true: 

1Cor. 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

but that's not the topic. No one is suggesting that we can fully experience God, the matter is wanting more of God.)

At least, not until we are finally welcomed into God’s immediate presence.

In contrast to so many other traditions, the Reformed tradition offers no higher tier of Christian living. (We would suggest that there is no Christian of any tradition that believes there is a higher tier of Christian living reserved for special Christians.)

Neither does it offer rapturous experiences or second blessings. (These descriptors seem pejorative. Why would any kind of experience or blessing be automatically bad?)

Rather, it looks carefully to Scripture (Yes, you see, these other traditions don't look carefully to Scripture...)

and offers ordinary means of grace—means that are equally available to all of us as we participate in the local church and live out our faith through a personal relationship with the Lord. 

I know the word “ordinary” sounds very plain and uninspiring. What are ordinary means when compared to extraordinary visions or ecstatic experiences? (Is this really the choice we have, "ordinary" versus "ecstatic" experiences? It seems to us that Mr. Challies is offering a false binary choice. 

Further, what exactly is wrong about experiences?)

But this is what we need to understand: God does not owe us anything other than complete separation from him. (Strange choice of words. Does God "owe" us the fulfillment of His promises [2 Peter 1:4]? Are we "owed" our inheritance [Eph. 1:14]? What about our rights [John 1:12]?)

Anything more than being eternally banished from his presence is breathtaking evidence of his mercy and kindness. (Agreed, though off topic.)

Though we deserve to be forever separated from God’s presence, he lovingly offers us means through which we can relate to him and through which he lavishes his grace upon us so we grow in joy and sanctification and satisfaction in him. (Agreed, though off topic.)

Because of what we have done, it is God who now sets the terms of our relationship. (What might those terms be? Please explain.)

The question is: Will we be content with this or will we demand more? (Sighhhh. Content with what? And who is "demanding" anything?)

Will we accept what he has so graciously given us or will we demand the right to relate to him on our terms? (Mr. Challies keeps piling on, each time advancing the argument a little further outside the actual topic.)

Will we invent or adopt means he has not prescribed or endorsed? (Now he has arrived at the preposterous summit of his mountain of rhetoric, that wanting more of God is actually sinful and outside His will. How he arrived at this conclusion is the result of modifying the original premise bit by bit until it's no longer recognizable.)

I hold to Reformed theology and am convinced it is most consistent with Scripture. I understand why many people believe that Reformed theology works itself out in a faith that is coldly intellectual instead of warmly experiential. We have probably all known people who have exemplified that aloof intellectual approach to the faith. But this is not the way it has to be and not the way it is meant to be. Reformed theology is experiential, but crucially, it constrains itself to the experiences the Bible permits. (Perhaps Mr. Challies might make a list of those permitted experiences.)

Perhaps you would do well to read up on experiential theology (The link is unhelpful. It simply a series of assertions, much like Mr. Challies' presentation. That author does manage to actually quote one Scripture, however.)

which “teaches that Christianity is not only a creed and a way of life but also an inner experience resulting from personal fellowship with God through the indwelling Spirit.” Instead of resenting the tradition or walking away from it, fully embrace it! ("Tradition?" What tradition? Mr. Challies has mentioned Reformed theology, which of course is a theology, but now he seems to be referring to certain activities that have historically practiced. 

So it seems he counsels us to fully embrace "tradition," the methods and agendas of his church. But we don't know why, or how that helps satisfy our longing more more of God.)

If you have been discouraged by the examples you have seen, go deeper into the tradition and resolve to display what it means to live a life that flows out of the soundest doctrine. (This is very nearly a nonsense statement. What does it mean to go deeper into "the tradition?" How does one "display" a life based on "soundest doctrine?" What is this doctrine? Where in the Bible do we find the idea that our highly polished doctrine pleases God or impresses other people?

And notice that Mr. Challies touts the intellectualism he previously negated. However, the pursuit of the soundest doctrine has no potential to yield fruit, is not commendable, and in fact is a concept not found in the Bible.)

With all that in mind, let me speak to you as a kind of spiritual older brother. My call to you is to remain resolute in pursuing God through the means that he has prescribed. (What means are those? Is it a secret?)

Come to see that when we speak of ordinary means, we are not indicating the means are plain, pedestrian, or prosaic. They are ordinary in the sense that all of us can ordinarily expect God to bless them and sanctify them to his purposes. (What means are those? Is it a secret?)

God has granted them to us and it now falls to us to receive them gratefully and practice them faithfully. (What means are those? Is it a secret?)

It falls to us to resist looking for solutions that will deliver a higher life, a second blessing, or a mystical rapture, and to resist being swayed by those who promise there is so much more to be had if only we will follow this ancient discipline or subscribe to that modern program. (Mr. Challies keeps dancing. Who is suggesting that a discipline or a program is the solution? He wants to talk about systems and thinks his system is the best. But he won't tell us what that is.)

Instead, I’d call upon you to embrace the reality that your longings will never be fully satisfied on this side of the grave, that so much of what you desire today is the right longing, but at the wrong time.

This is not a call to apathy but a call to remain steady and resist chasing what will always remain out of reach. (Wanting more of God is out of reach because we will never be fully satisfied? Mr. Challies keeps trying to frame the issue in a particular way so as to create a Straw man. He compounds this by never telling us what the right "tradition" is. Nor does he tell us what avenues are prescribed by that tradition or why the pursuit of the "soundest doctrine" is any better than the pursuit of the "experience.")

Acknowledge that your sense of longing is part of God’s will for you right now and that it cannot be resolved in this world. And embrace this reality: that you can only be spiritually content when you admit, identify, and accept your spiritual discontentment. Instead of trying to satisfy that discontentment in ways God does not invite or permit, (What are those impermissible ways? Oh. He's almost done.)

let it deepen your longing for the day when you will finally be in God’s presence—the day when you will at last know and experience God in all the ways your heart has ever longed for.