It is not selfish to want good things for yourself - to want to experience joy and fulfillment. However, it is important to know where to seek those things.
I want to fall in love, with a handsome, kind and considerate man that is living out a Christ-like existence - who loves God above all else, including me. I want to enjoy the career and job that I work at - I want to enjoy my co-workers company and I want to be able to help others through my work. I want friends that I can enjoy the company of, rely on and create memories with - friends that challenge me to be a better person too.
Psalm 37:4 says "Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."
God wants good things for His children.
There are times where frustrations abound. You have found a job that is amazing - but you don't get it, the position is already filled... You've met someone you really like - they don't feel the same way, the timing is never right, you just can't seem to make it work out... You have a great friend - they are making poor choices, they're shutting you out, you're both busy and you lose touch...
We often see things, and we think this is so right for me, this feels so right for me. We often have blinders on that we don't even know we are wearing. We are only able to see so far ahead into the decisions we make. But God can see it all. God knows when something is not right for us. He has given us the free will to make our own choices, but He has also taken the responsibility of guarding our hearts if we freely entrust them to Him. And if we do, God may take us out of situations or turn us in another direction when we don't expect or necessarily desire it.
God wants the best things for His children.
That is something I have been learning: what God wants for me is better than what I could ever want for myself. It is not selfish to want good things, but it is selfish to neglect God's will and His graces when we have given Him our hearts.
There are a few times already that I am able to look back on in my life, where I can see that God was protecting me. Although I may have endured some hurt and pain, God shielded me from greater devastation. He had my best interests in mind. My better interests. And when I look back, I know that I could not have made a better plan than God did for my life.
If we trust that God wants the best things for us, He will take our hand and lead us past happiness into joy. Happiness is pleasant, but joy is everlasting. That is what God wants for us - a heavenly fulfillment - joy. Sometimes we have to endure the frustration, and the inability to understand circumstances, in order to open our lives up for the joy ahead.
~SP
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