Rather than desire being fulfilled in the presence of God, religious desire is BORN there. In short, a true spiritual seeking can be understood as the ultimate sign that one already HAS that which one seeks, or rather, that one is already grasped by that which one seeks to grasp. Consequently a genuine seeking after God is evidence of having found.
Of course, much desire that appears to seek after God is nothing of the sort. For instance, to seek God for eternal life is to seek eternal life, while to seek God for meaningful existence is to seek a meaningful existence. A true seeking after God results from an experience of God which one falls in love with for no reason other than finding God irresistibly lovable. In this way the lovers of God are the ones who are most passionately in search of God.
Thus the emerging community celebrate the centrality of religious desire, acknowledging that it is a necessary part of faith. This approach can help us to appreciate why the psalmist writes, 'those who desire God lack no good thing' and why the Gospels tell us to 'seek first the kingdom'.
I guess that's the point I really want to get to... where I desire God for himself, not for what I think he'll give me (like some magical Santa Claus in the ether). I have a vague intellectual knowledge that he is a beautiful person, supremely smart, overflowing with joy and wonder, unflappable, compassionate, radiating love and welcome and even humor.
I know in my heart that he is all that and more. But instead of relying on other people's description of this mind-boggling being, it's time to begin experiencing him more and more first-hand...
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment