Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6, NASB)
I had an extra day
off work, and I wanted to enjoy it to the fullest. One of the best parts of
having the day off is getting to stay up late the night before. So I watched TV
to my heart’s content. I lay around instead of taking that walk I needed. And I
ate whatever I felt like eating.
By the time I went
to bed, I felt bloated, guilty, and restless. I had learned again what I should
have already known: self-indulgence is not the path to happiness.
What’s more,
satisfying the needs of our bodies does not satisfy us.
Yes, we are
physical creatures. In a sense, we are children of this earth. Our bodies are
made of its elements. We are sustained by its resources and are dependent on
them for life – water, food, and air. Even our concepts of pleasure and beauty
are largely shaped by this earth. And when we die, our bodies return to the
elements from which we were formed. Physically, we are children of this earth.
But we are more than
that. We are more than this weak, dying body. Life is more than a sensory
experience. Happiness is more than making our bodies as comfortable as
possible.
We indulge
ourselves. We make life as easy as we can. Or we make it as stimulating as we
can. Pleasure . . . ambition . . . they add interest to life, for a while. They
can be pleasant distractions, some for longer than others. But always the
emptiness returns, the “is that all there is?” feeling. We hunger for something
greater, something deeper, something truly fulfilling . . . something lasting.
We hunger to reach
all the way to the roots of our existence. We hunger for our Father, our
Mother.
We hunger for God.
We don’t want to
think of it that way. We want to look at the need a “rational” way and come to
a more human solution. But the fact is that we hunger for something more than
this sea of humanity has to offer, more than it can know. We hunger for our
Creator. We hunger to know Him and be known by Him, to understand, to rise to
all that we can be, to find our place . . . forever.
We grasp for
fulfillment, and fulfillment can only be found in the One that created us from
Himself. Fulfillment can only be found in all that He is and all that we can be
in Him.
If you’re searching
for meaning, for purpose, for soul-deep satisfaction, for all that life should
be, search for the Source. Search for Him.
You’ll discover that
He has been searching for you all along . . . searching for His child. And you’ll
discover that finding Him is as close as a single, honest prayer.
God is a gardener at heart.
He delights to grow things from tiny seeds.
Look at your life and
the lives of those who are following Him.
It’s like a stroll through His garden.
What is He growing?
Isn’t it beautiful?
Hymn: Growing in God
