A Holy Longing for Christ

A guest post by Joe Crispin:

The primary reason I enjoy reading Larry’s blog is, it seems, the primary reason he writes it, namely, to encourage in his readers a holy longing for the life to come.

I don’t know about you, but even though I never lack for things that frustrate me or produce in me a longing for something more, I am O so slow to long for the right things. For Christ. For holiness. For the New Heavens and New Earth. For the glory of God to fill the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Not only that, but I am also so slow to respond rightly when I rightly long. That is, when I do finally recognize what I should be longing for and indeed, deep down, what I am really longing for, I am still slow to act in that moment as I ought. Sometimes I just can’t figure out what I should do. Or I might be overwhelmed with the gravity and cosmic scope of sin. Poverty is everywhere. Pain. Struggle. What can I really do?

The interesting thing about this, however, is that the two are intimately connected. For I believe that the reason I am so slow to know what to do right here and now is because I do not long consistently and/or proactively enough.

Did you catch that? Consistency and proactivity seems, at least to me, to be two central keys. Day by day, moment by moment cultivation of a holy longing for Christ and all that He values is one of the most practical things I can do for myself and the world. For it is only as I come to consistently long for that which I should long for that I can truly serve others as I ought.

If I know what I am truly longing for, I will know what I ought to do now. And if I really want what I should want, I will want to do what I ought to do.

If you understand anything I just said, you should be motivated (as I am) to read this blog more. For Larry does a great job giving us glimpses into how life ought to be, how it is now, and how we should respond in light of those two things. Though one post might not rock your world, if you listen in day by day, the way you view the world might well be changed.

All that being said, I am motivated to read much more. I hope you are as well. And I also hope Larry is even more motivated to write!