Human beings are
strongly emotional, extremely rational and highly intellectual but
unfortunately, we use all of that to get only what we want and to meet our
selfish desires. Instincts and feelings also play a part in this selfish
endeavor. But the truth of the matter is, they leave us with emptiness in our hearts because by nature they are temporary. In this age of
consumerism, everything is commodified, trivializing our joy and excitement,
thereby, making our wants unappeasable.
C S Lewis calls this
core desire “the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable
want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose
our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no
longer knows wife or friend or work.”. The “unappeasable want” is an every day experience for each of us
in varied degrees. The sad part of human history is that we have learned to
live and adjust to temporary happiness and satisfaction but hardly garner our
emotions, intellect, instincts to desire true, noble and lasting joy that can
bring about absolute contentment in human hearts.
Our happiness and joy
were never meant to be commodities, which results in fragile relationships. For
the pieces of the puzzle to fit perfectly in our lives we need to align our
desires to know God. Not a God of imagination and fantasy but a God who
is alive and active in human lives. Randy Alcorn in his book
"Heaven" puts these lines beautifully, “We may
imagine we want a thousand different things, but God is the one we really long
for. His presence brings satisfaction; his absence brings thirst and longing.”
Let us remove the
religious framework from our minds as it will fail us at one point. Any
religion for that matter is only a set of do’s and don’ts. We may satisfy our
selfishness by complying to a set of rites and rituals. A relationship with a
God that transforms lives and creates lasting contentment in human hearts is
what really makes the difference. In the Bible, Jesus states, “Peace I
leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give you as the world gives.
Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.”. Your commitment to God impacts your
longing.
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