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Living Above Longing 

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In the beginning there was no longing.  There was only completeness, which is all there can be when all of existence is in perfect relationship with God.  But when sin entered the world separating man from God, all that was once complete became incomplete.  One act of disobedience wiped the perfection away. 

 

In our world and hearts we feel the consequences of sin.  The pain of longing is one such consequence.  When you are made for a three-dimensional relationship (the third dimension being the spiritual realm) and yet live in a world where the third dimension is hidden and largely discounted, you will long for more.  You will realize that what men strive to gain in this life ultimately cannot be kept.  Our world is a world of void with a thousand things offering to fill the void, none of which are capable of doing so. 

 

We live our lives trying to avoid the void.  We fill it.   With fame, fortune, achievement.  Family, friendships,and  earthly love.  Handled properly, those tools point us toward God’s material and relational provision.  But they will never fill the void.  The void is meant to awaken us to our desire for life devoid of the void.  A life found in Christ.  A life only fully realized in the life to come.  The more this desire is awakened, the less we notice the void, not because it is filled, but because we stop trying to fill it.  

 

               “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”    II Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

 

As we trade our sin, pride, and selfishness for Christ’s atoning blood, forgiveness, and glory, we tap into the storehouse of the “more” we were made for.  It does not keep us from the pain and suffering of this broken world, but it does afford us fellowship in hard and lonely times.  It does not prevent our earthly dreams from shattering, it does give us hope during our greatest disappointments.  We can walk with Christ where we would be incapable of walking on our own.        

 

You might think that living in this world and yet above this world would be a disservice to those around us who have yet to experience God’s goodness.  But quite the opposite is true.  When we see as God sees and live as He calls us to,  those around us glimpse of the completeness found in Him.  We forgive not because it is the right thing to do, but because it is the thing God has already done.  We give not because we are hoping to receive, but because we have already received in abundance. 

 

While glimpses of completeness in Christ are experienced by Christians even in this world, Christians are not exempt from longing.  We are not home yet.  Our longing is different.  It is not an empty longing for we know what we long for is guaranteed.  The pull of this world is strong.  It is hard to resist the temptation to fill our voids.  As we try to fill them, we realize they cannot be met here and must rise above them.   The void of the world will either weigh us down or lift us up.  If we must long, may it be for the more we were made for.    

    

“..we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”  2 Corinthians 4:18 (ESV)

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