Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What We Really Want | My Favorite Verses | Psalm 73.25

Episode Date: April 13, 2021

Feeling dissatisfied with your life? Disappointed with your life? Find out why from Keith Simon as he delves into Psalm 73.25 to continue our series on My Favorite Verses. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! Outline 0:30 - The Christmas that ruined every other Christmas 2:15 - Fear of failure 3:35 - The human condition: dissatisfaction 4:10 - (Psalm 73.25): Are you ready to go to heaven? 5:00 - Why do you want to go to heaven? 6:05 - (Philippians 1.21) 7:25 - Homesickness for heaven 9:15 - Love Doesn't Envy 11:00 - Why we desire Jesus 14:15 - Subscribe. Rate. Share. Social Facebook: (https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks) Twitter: (https://twitter.com/tmbtpodcast) Related Episodes Love Doesn't Envy How to Respond to Jesus Support this podcast Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to Tim Minut Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. My name is Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. We are currently exploring some of our favorite Bible verses and how they've changed our lives. Also, if you want to connect with us, follow us on Twitter at TMBT podcast. You can also check out our hashtag, hashtag, AskT, TMBT, where you can ask us anything and we'd love to connect with you. I still remember the Christmas that has ruined every Christmas since. And what's completely weird about it is that my mom only had the best of intentions.

For some reason, she decided to go all out. And by all out, I mean by every gift we could have ever hoped for, and really more than we would have ever even thought was possible. I remember coming down the stairs for Christmas morning, and there were presents everywhere spread out underneath the tree. There was even a couple of gifts. that were unwrapped. They were just sitting there with a bow on top, and one was a television for me. Now, that was the first television that I ever had, and it didn't look like the televisions we have today,

but it was still super cool, and I was incredibly excited. So how could that day, that special day, when I got all these things that I wanted, ruin Christmases for me? Well, I never had another one like it. My parents couldn't ever provide another Christmas that measured up to that one. I don't know why. Maybe it was just because of my 12-year-old head. It was a great experience and nothing ever quite measured up. But I know that even when I became a dad, it was buying gifts for my kid, I would always look in their eyes to see,

did my presents excite them as much as the Christmas presents my mom bought me when I was 12? And you know what? I'm not sure I ever saw it in their face. face. Maybe they were really excited, but I was never sure that they were as excited for their Christmas gifts as I wanted them to be. That Christmas serves as a parable for my life, maybe for all of our lives. My parents were very successful in their profession, and for whatever reason, I kind of adopted this fear of failure. I hated the thought of failing. And so I would work really

hard pushed myself, or I would not try things because I didn't want to fail in them. And now this led to all kinds of complicated implications. For example, I was always looking for the next thing to do. Wherever I was, it wasn't good enough. I always wanted to be somewhere else. I couldn't decide where to go to college. I ended up at the State College University of Missouri, but I was always thinking about transferring. Surely there was a better college for me out there somewhere. I became kind of an evaluator, a critic, a person who could always find something wrong. It was almost a defense mechanism. I was always dissatisfied. I could be dissatisfied with anything, dissatisfied with a job, dissatisfied with church, dissatisfied with myself, dissatisfied with relationships,

dissatisfied with the city I lived in. But at some point, I began to realize, maybe the problem wasn't with my job or school or friendships or myself or whatever. Maybe the problem was me. Maybe this insatiable quest for something more, something better, something different was telling me that there was nothing in this world that could ever really satisfy me. I think that is the human condition. We live in the wealthiest, most educated country in history, but we aren't satisfied. We stand in front of full refrigerators and say there's nothing to eat. We stand in front of full closets and say there's nothing to wear. I think it's that hunger for something in my life, for something more, something better that actually led me to put my faith in Jesus and become a follower of the only one who can truly satisfy us. One of my favorite verses of all time is Psalm 73.25. Here's how it reads, Whom have I in heaven but you and earth has nothing I desire besides you. See, this verse teaches me that Jesus is the most desirable thing in heaven. There's nothing that I would want more in heaven than Jesus.

Do you want to go to heaven? My guess is you go, sure, of course I do. Do you want to go to heaven today? Well, a lot of people when you ask them that question say, well, I want to go to heaven, but I'm not ready to do it right now. If you're not ready to go to heaven right now, doesn't that tell you something? If you think there's something on earth that's better than being with Jesus in heaven. Doesn't that tell you something about your beliefs? Well, let me ask you another question. Why do you want to go to heaven? There's all kinds of answers people give when I ask them that question.

Some people want to go to heaven because it beats going to hell. Others want to see a special person in heaven, maybe a grandmother or someone like that who has passed away. Other people want to go to heaven because they've imagined a heaven that is tailored just for them, and they want to escape this earth and do something they love to do all the time. The Bible says that heaven will be great. There will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain, that in heaven it will be better than we can possibly imagine. But all the benefits of heaven pale in comparison to being with Jesus. That's why Psalm 73, 25 says,

whom have I in heaven but you? There might be lots of great things in heaven and lots of great people in heaven, but what I really want is Jesus. That's why Paul wrote in Philippians 1, for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. It was gain because he was going to be able to be with Jesus. There are lots of gifts in heaven, but they're all secondary to God. See, all the secondary joys, well, they get their joy from somewhere else. Let me explain. Flowers are beautiful for one reason because God is beautiful. Rainbows are stunning because God is stunning.

Puppies are delightful because God is delightful. Sports are fun because God is fun. Studying is rewarding because God is rewarding. Work is fulfilling because God is fulfilling. All the things that we enjoy in this life, Well, they get their joy from God. Imagine how much more joy, how much more fulfillment, how much more delight, how much more fun, how much more beauty are in God than anything this world has to offer.

Over the years, some people have really grasped the impact of seeing God and all that it means. A woman named St. Teresa, she was from a city called Avala. She once said, wherever God is, there is. heaven. Martin Luther, the great German reformer, said, I'd rather be in hell with Christ than to be in heaven without him. Nothing is more misdiagnosed than our homesickness for heaven. We think that what we want is sex or drugs or alcohol or a new job or a raise or a doctorate or a spouse or a flat-screen television or a new car or a cabin in the woods or a condo at the beach. But what we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, and that's heaven.

But Psalm 73 doesn't just talk about Jesus in terms of heaven. Psalm 73, Whom have I in heaven but you? And then the next line, and earth has nothing I desire besides you. See, it's not just that I want Jesus in heaven, it's that Jesus is the best thing this world has to offer. He's the most desirable thing on earth. What this verse is telling us is choose Jesus over everything. If you have to choose Jesus or family, choose Jesus. If it's Jesus or money, choose Jesus. If it's Jesus or career, choose Jesus.

If it's Jesus or alcohol, choose Jesus. Jesus or porn, choose Jesus. Jesus or a redecorated house, choose Jesus. Jesus or a great reputation, choose Jesus. He's better than anything this world has to offer. When Christina and I lived in Chicago and I was going to seminary, we encountered a guy who had developed some prominence, a reputation, a little bit of wealth, not rich, but a little bit of wealth. And he was able to build a house for his family. And he wrote about that experience. And I think is really insightful, not just into his.

his life but my life and my guess your life. He wrote this. Several years ago, my wife and I moved out of Chicago to the western suburbs to be near our grandkids. We got this little piece of land and built what we thought was our dream house. It was not over the top by any means, but it was nice. We liked how it looked from the curb. We liked how it lived on the inside. It was far more than we deserved, but we really liked our house. I hate to admit this, but about six months after we built our house, I was driving through a beautiful neighborhood and saw a house that caught my attention. The colors, the architecture, the lot, the location. They all had a big wow factor for me. And my first thought was, boy, I wish I had that house. Haven't you experienced that in your life?

When you always want something different than what you have, even though you know you have far better than others and far more than you deserved and you've got something really great going, but you see something else that looks better, more attractive, shinier, newer, more exciting. And you look at it and say, boy, I wish I had that house. I wish I had that car. I wish I had that career. I wish I had that family. I wish I had that vacation. I wish I had that reputation. Do you ever just wonder what the world is wrong with me? Why is it that I think I never have enough? I think the reason is because we keep setting our hearts on something other than Jesus. What Psalm 7325 teaches us is that Jesus is the only thing that will satisfy our souls. He is the most desirable thing on earth. Why is Jesus the most desirable

thing on earth? Well, we could spend hours answering that question and just scratch the surface, but here's a start. Jesus is the most desirable thing on earth because Jesus loves sin. sinners like me. Jesus is the most desirable thing on earth because he is not put off by the messiness of my life. In all my stumbling and falling, Jesus has never said, enough is enough. I'm out. I'm finished with you. Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more. Jesus is the most desirable thing on earth because his glory and his majesty one day soon will make every Hollywood superhero look small and silly. There was nothing physically attractive about Jesus. He would have never appeared on the cover of men's health. He came as a normal man for all people, not just beautiful people.

Jesus is the most desirable thing on earth because he never misunderstands me, never interrupts me, never misjudges my motives. He's the most desirable thing on earth because he chose the path of humility. Jesus knows what it is to struggle, what it is to be thirsty or hungry, or hated or rejected or taunted or shamed or abandoned or suffocated or tortured or killed. Jesus knows what our life is like. He understands my struggle. He understands my temptation to gossip or to be proud in the wrong things or to complain or lust or seek the approval of others. Jesus knows the battle against sin and yet he defeated sin every time. The Bible says that he knows what I'm going through it because he's gone through it himself, except unlike me, Jesus never sinned.

Psalm 8410 says, better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. Better is one day in the courts of Jesus than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. I read a story about a missionary who was returning from years and years in the mission field. and was on his way to see his daughter who lived in California. And the bus that he was on stopped in Las Vegas. It's kind of funny to think about an older missionary who's been overseas for years and the developing world and now trying to get to his daughter,

but spending an evening in Vegas. He said he walked up and down the strip. He saw it all. He went to his hotel room. He opened his curtain. He looked down at all the lights, all the people, all the action. And he said he got down on his knees and prayed. God, I thank you that tonight, I haven't seen anything I want more than I want you. God, there's nothing in my world that I want more

than you. There's nothing that anyone else has. Nothing I've ever seen on TV or in a commercial, nothing that my mind can imagine that I want more than you. Psalm 7325, have I in heaven but you, and earth has nothing I desire besides you. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily. Also ask yourself who you could share this podcast with. Texting an episode to a friend or family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.