The Christian’s greatest longing …

I sipped my coffee in Starbucks as I listened to the woman rattle off what seemed to be an endless list of what she would do if her mega lottery ticket turned out to be a winner.

This woman was sure she was going to win, and she was full of things she longed for that would easily put a dent into something even as grand as a mega lottery fortune.

That’s a lot of longings!

We all have something we long for. Yes, even us Christians. But what is it that true believers desire the most? Ken McIntosh gives us an insight into the longing of the heart of a disciple of Jesus Christ with this story …

“I was sitting together with a young man who was receiving his first communion, when the communion trays were passed to us. He took the wafer and then drank from the small cup. After a few seconds of silence, he leaned over to me and whispered, ‘It kind of makes you hungry!’ Without realizing it, that young man had offered a wonderful communion meditation. Ironically, participating in the Lord’s Supper does kind of make you hungry — hungry for more and more of God. It’s a hunger that keeps bringing us back again and again and again to the Lord’s Table.”

The greatest desire in the heart of a child of God is for God Himself! A beautiful picture of such longing for the Lord is painted for us in Psalm 130:6, “I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.”

The one thing a sentry wants to see is the dawning of a new day. It’s in the dark of night that danger lurks, possibly even to the threat of life, provoking hours of fear and guardedness. Everything will be alright with the rising of the sun!

More than that sentry wishing for the sunrise as he peers into the dark, the Christian longs for Jesus. Is He the greatest longing of your heart?

Scotty