The Deepest Longing
(This week I include the original song” Holy Longing” to accompany this blog)[audio mp3="http://chrisatkins.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/03-Holy-Longing.mp3"][/audio]As I write this, I am counting the minutes until I pick up our youngest daughter, Annie from the Orlando airport. I have longed to see her, and it feels like years since I’ve I last spent time with her, even though it’s been only a couple of months. She will be spending the next day and a half with me on route to her overseas travels and studies. I have missed Annie, her brothers, sister, and our grandchildren tremendously. I count the days and look forward to every minute we spend together. As Annie journeys off again I will hold onto the memories and look ahead to the time she returns.There is a longing in each of us. Some of us long for a loved one who had gone too soon, while others long for the days when our health was good, our marriage intact, we were employed, or our friends were still near us.I’m convinced that the longings of our life point to the brokenness of this world, a world that marches on over fleeting, happy moments and tearful goodbyes.I also believe the deepest longing of our lives flows from our need to be reunited again with our Creator. Human beings are hardwired to be in a relationship with God. The problem is we have been apart from God so long that we have forgotten this and have instead tried to rename this longing and fill it with things that quickly evaporate and leave us feeling the pangs of emptiness again.Augustine once wrote, “Our hearts are restless o God until we rest in you.” Many people like to quote this phrase, but until you hit the concrete floor of futility and feel the insatiable pangs of emptiness Augustine’s words won’t make much sense.We are lost in the swirl of life until we understand the deepest longing of our life can only be filled with a new, experiential encounter with God.What is the answer to the deepest longing of our hearts? It is WHO, not what. Jesus Christ is God’s answer to the deepest longing to humankind to experience God. He is the one and only connecting point between God and people, who by our very nature are estranged from Him. He stands ready to take your hand and give you a new, restored relationship with God, Your Creator and Father. In fact, God has been looking and waiting for you to come to Him with all your longings. Jesus said it simply and powerfully:
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28)
Life can be hard. We long for more and our hearts ache at the emptiness inside. But know this for sure: you are not beyond hope. The answer to your deepest need is found in the person of Jesus Christ.It is the holy longing within that can draw us back to God.