...if God is truly the greatest good on this earth, would He be loving us if He didn't draw us toward what is best for us (even if that happens to be Himself)?

We are a culture that relies on technology over community, a society in which spoken and written words are cheap, easy to come by, and excessive. Our culture says anything goes; fear of God is almost unheard of. We are slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry.

Doesn't every encounter with God only cause us to thirst for Him more?

I think most American churchgoers are the soil that chokes the seed because of all the thorns. Thorns are anything that distracts us from God. When we want God and a bunch of other stuff, then that means we have thorns in our soil. A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions, or commitments are piled on top of it.

It hit me that the students were talking about me, not God. I was standing before a holy God and robbing Him of the glory that was rightfully His.

Colossians 1:16 tells us that everything was created FOR God... don't we live instead as though God is created for US, to do OUR bidding, to bless US, and to take care of OUR loved ones?

Do you understand that it's impossible to please God in any way other than wholehearted surrender?