“To hope for your future is to affirm the life that God gave you and the range of possibilities that it generates” (11). This quote from the first chapter of Cornelius Plantinga’s book, Engaging God’s World came off the pages and punched me in the face. I have a friend that this sentence seems to be written for. This friend recently lost his best friend to suicide. Needless to say, my friend has been deeply affected. My friend has decided that planning is pointless. Planning is pointless, he believes, so he just sort of wanders through life by getting pulled along by others. My friend is a Christian, but he does not always see the importance of Jesus sacrifice in his everyday life. Plantinga knows what it’s like to long for something. So does my friend. Plantinga longs for Jesus. My friend longs for stability. What my friend does not know is that he is really longing for the same thing as Plantinga.
God created us to be relational beings. We cannot be filled unless we have a relationship with God. Even when we become Christians and come to know the grace of God through his son Jesus, we still long to experience God in ways that our humanly features prohibit us from doing. As such, we have moments where we feel bits of the joy that will fill us in heaven. We long for the continuation of this joy and strive to find it. Sometimes we look in the wrong direction. Humans, food, technology, and nature are all things that people use to fill the God void in their life.
My friend has chosen to fill his void with people. Ultimately, this has been unfulfilling and he has drawn farther away from God, causing his longing to grown from a mere pang to an all consuming ache. Because my friend has not been able to find fulfillment, he believes that planning is pointless. His plans have been ruined by outside circumstances. The people he has trusted have hurt him. Nothing has gone his way. Unfortunately, my friend has never looked solely to God. God has been a small part of his equation, but God has been more of a backup plan. He has given up on God.
This longing that my friend is trying to fill is actually an important part of hoping and making plans. This longing is here to remind us that there is so much more that we have to look forward to. It is good to long for better because God has given us this longing for him. We have something to look forward to. Bad things will happen, but it is important to remember that god is waiting for us and, while we have a relationship with him now, we will soon get to spend every moment with him.
It's heartbreaking to become blinded from the truth that everything will come to wonderful completion by our loving God. In so many instances the immediate circumstances of our lives keep us in the dark about the reality of how God watches over us. Nevertheless, it's so important that we persevere and not give in to our cirumstances and emotions. Instead, we need to be sure to constantly remind ourselves of what our true reality is and act with wisdom on our beliefs. Easier said than done, yet God always gives us the grace that leads us to victory.
ReplyDeleteCorrie, it is true that we, as humans, look in the wrong direction to fill the void. For me, I feel like it's mostly through acceptance and love. It is neat that God allows us to experience "bits of the joy that will fill us in heaven." Another example of God's grace in our lives. But, at least for me, I never realize that this joy is always from God. Sometimes I feel it is my 'right to happiness' that makes me forget that true joy comes from God.
ReplyDeleteReading this made me think of the verse in Philippians where Paul talks about how everything is rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. Every other longing is so unfulfilling when compared to that.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this personal ancedote. I think it is very useful to try to apply the readings to our lives as a part of the learning process. Hopefully you can help your friend to see the true joy that only comes from God. We can all certainly pray for that.
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking about the line "God as a backup plan" You're right in saying that God has to be the primary focus. All our relationships will then be more fulfilling as they are a way we enjoy the Joy of our salvation and bring glory to God. God can give us no happiness without himself. Otherwise we go to great lengths and strange places to try and find fulfillment.
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