Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Heart's Longing

     The longing for greatness. The longing for glory. The longing for more. The longing for our longing to be fullfilled, and our hearts to rest. These are the longings I speak of today. These are the longings we're all aware of...and they're also the longings we see filled and removed oh so rarely.

     But this isn't a new thing. Don't be fooled. Since the very first fall of man, we have had these longings in greater abundance, and since the first seeds we have turned to all the wrong answers. Your struggle, my struggle, our struggle, it is not new. It is an old struggle with an old solution...and one I fear we've all but forgotten.

     We have this strange paradox in which we long to be great ourselves, and yet long to be part of something- or some one- greater than simply ourselves. That if I alone were great, I would be alone, and loneliness and contentedness never come together nor stay together. We long for unity. For unity in ourselves yes, but also for unity with others. Unity with some one who desires us, some one who accepts us, and some one who adds to us. Not some one who would steal our strength and fruit, but some one who would willingly add theirs to ours.

     How deeply we do long for change. We know that how we are operating is not working, yet we find no other solutions. I believe, however, that somewhere deep inside we all know the answer. Why then? Why do we not search it out? Well I propose that we are fearful. I am fearful. To search this Solution out is to go into the unknown. It's to admit there is somewhere and some one with whom I will gain much freedom and yet lose much freedom. It's to admit that I am in fact broken. It's to be courageous. This is rare yet powerful virtue.

     But I will tell you my friends that our Solution is desperate for us. He is altogether receiving and forgiving. He is clothed in glory and greatness and eager to place Himself into us. He is seeking the humble and courageous. He is seeking to share more of Himself with the world- not because He's egocentric or proud, but because He wants us to have the best...and He knows that He Himself is the best. He is love. He is abundance. He is rest. He is the fulfillment of our hopes. He is the Solution.

     I pray for your peace and rest, and that this hope that daily finds me will daily find you, and that as we seek in return, the glory of God will not simply be shown but be spread. I pray that broken hearts will be healed. I pray that chains will be broken. I pray that hope rises.