My soul yearns for you. (Isa. 26:9)
Human beings yearn for a variety of things.
While sitting in my office, a student shared how he longed to be good-looking. “If I had good looks I would have a better chance at dating.” Another student talked about how he was consumed by his need to be secure financially. A woman shared that she longed to be a famous singer, applauded by large crowds. A guy shared that he longed to be accepted and popular.
Christians need to look past our many everyday longings and rediscover God himself as the object of our greatest and most basic longing. If we don’t thirst for Him the most, running after our other longings won’t satisfy us for long. Our lack of thirst for Him will fail to give us the “spark” we need to truly make room for Him in our lives.
In his book The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer wrote, “I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted” (p. 17).
Don’t waste your time on insignificant pursuits; crave the One who alone can satisfy.
Jim “Umfundisi” Lo is the author of Connect with God: The Purpose of Prayer (WPH) and the dean of chapel at Indiana Wesleyan University.
