The problem with wanting more of God

I can't count how many times in my life I've told God, "I just need more of you." (Flashback: Remember that old song "More love. More power. More of you in my life"? Either you have no clue what I'm talking about or now you're humming it while having flashbacks of middle school youth group.) And as much as I believe the heart's in the right place when we say we want more of Him, I think this phrase itself is... seriously flawed.

This dawned on me a few weeks ago at church when a really really awesome pastor (ok... it was my mom) was preaching something along these lines: We really don't need 'more of God'. He already offers Himself entirely to us. His presence. His wisdom. His love. His grace. His truth.

What we really need is less of ourselves to make room to experience more of God.

There have been (countless) times when I prayed for 'more of God' earnestly but I wasn't willing to relinquish control - how I thought things should happen or my negative critical thoughts. It's easier to ask for more of Him when I need something (peace, security, comfort) than to acknowledge where I stiff-arm God at a distance because I want to do life my way - which makes me experience less of Him.

All of this reminds me of a sermon from eons ago that I'm sure I'll butcher trying to articulate now but it went something like this...

We can't expect to grow and experience God if we aren't digging ditches in our lives to capture the goodness and truth. 

(Similar idea is 'carving out time' to spend with Him.) Because if we want more of Him, what we really mean is we need less of ourselves. Less (of me) is more (of Him).