obsession

     a person recently left an angry comment on my other blog asking if i ever talk about anything besides god. she demanded to know if i did this to people in real life, and if my friends and i often sit around and talk about god. while i'm not really sure why she was angry, it's obvious she thinks it's weird to be so obsessed with something that seems so irrelevant. i suppose she sees my obsession with god like a four-year-old's obsession with barbies. it seems, to the observer, a futile pursuit. sure, it makes you happy for a while, but doesn't it ever get old?
     my little sister is practically obsessed with animals. i honestly don't understand why. she gets so upset about the injustices our society commits against animals. i often want to just say, "who cares? they're just animals -- it doesn't really matter, does it?"
     that's how i think the girl who left me the comment felt. see, she thinks that when i talk about god, i'm talking about this concept that christians have about god or something. this isn't the case, though. i'm not talking about a concept or an abstraction any more than a person who talks about their best friend is talking about some ambiguous, impersonal bemusement.
     i think a lack of obsession plagues our society today. i think it's part of why there are so many who have left the faith, it's why the divorce rate is so high, it's why values are bought and sold lightely, and it's why people react angrily to people who are obsessed with something.
     now i must make it clear that most things people are obsessed with are not good things to be obsessed with. for example, while animals aren't a bad thing to be interested in, they're not something that need consume the bulk of a person's interest (at the cost of other things). really, there's only one obsession that's good -- and that's an obsession about god.
     think about it: what could possibly be worth dedicating your entire life to? what doesn't die, doesn't fade, and will never let you down? it seems like god is the only answer there.
     i would take this idea of obsession a step further, though. rather than saying it is permissible and good to be obsessed with god, i'm going to argue that a life that isn't dedicated to god isn't worth living. sure, no one is going to be able to live entirely for god -- but if you're not trying to live for god, your life is worthless.
     if your life isn't dedicated to something or someone eternal, unchanging, and perfect, your life is futile. you aren't going to do anything that lasts forever on your own. the human race in its entirety can't do anything with eternal value. everything will fade, and everyone will die. what does that leave for us to live for? does it not leave only a dedication to god? is he not our only lasting hope for life? i think it's obvious that he is.
     there is another reason that i'd like to point out that god-obsessions make people mad. i think it's because there's conviction in encountering someone totally sold out to god. according to second corinthians chapter two verses fifteen through seventeen, christians have the aroma (in a figurative sense) of christ. when we come into contact with people, we smell like something. to the unbeliever, the god-obsessed christian smells like death. though they smell like life and love to fellow christians, they smell like conviction and condemnation to those that refuse to believe in the truth.
     my main point in all this is that we should be god-obsessed not because it's just a good thing, but because it's the only possible hope in life. rely completely on him -- on his love, on his power, on his grace -- and on nothing else. this is the essence of the god-obsession.