Longing

Everyone longs to have their life “mean” something. Many of us long for something greater than anything this world could ever offer. Actually, all of us do. We may not even realize it until something “big” happens and snaps life into perspective, though.

Some long for perfect love—no broken hearts, no unrequited love, no fear of loving or being loved. Others may long for justice—due “payment” for wrongs committed against them or those they love, recognition for all the hard work that may go unnoticed or that someone else takes credit for. Still others long for life free from pain—void of physical ailment, handicap, or disease. They desire life free from seeing a world torn by war and other evils, the pains of seeing our young people make decisions that lead them down the wrong paths. A life free from divorce, miscarriage, cancer, murder, war, poverty, hunger, AIDS, discrimination, inequality, and death.

None of us will ever know such love, justice, and freedom from pain and fear until we know the One who gives it. Jesus Christ holds the key to the very things each of us longs for. I’m sorry…let me say that again: JESUS holds the key to what we long for. Not you, not me, not the world, not family or spouses, not careers or education. Without Christ, we only long for what we cannot gain by our own power. With Him, however, we get it all—no questions asked, no dues to pay, no tasks to perform, no strings attached.

What are you longing for today? I have a running short-list myself…and I need to look to Him for the peace, hope, and assurance that He’s “got this.”

"Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire [long for] besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:23-26