Christian, you can call off the search …

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Americans in the 21st century highly exalt the individual, and the individual’s personal opinion. There’s multiple problems with that, not less than the fact no human is a truly independent, or sovereign being.

We were designed for connectedness.

Hear this from Professor Edward Everett in the 19th century:

    We ask the leaf, “Are you complete in yourself?” and the leaf answers, “No, my life is in the branches.” We ask the branch, and the branch answers, “No, my life is in the trunk.” We ask the trunk, and it answers, “No, my life is in the root.”

    We ask the root, and it answers, “No, my life is in the trunk and the branches and the leaves. Keep the branches stripped of leaves and I shall die.” So it is with the great tree of being. Nothing is completely and merely individual.

Having an intuitive sense of this, but often not rightly understanding it, we search for something or someone in the world that will truly, finally “complete” us. Janet Bartholomew tells of Christoper Parkening’s search for purpose and happiness — “completeness” — in “Does God Care?”:

    Considered perhaps the greatest guitarist alive, Christopher Parkening appeared to have it all. Signed to an international recording deal as a teenager, Parkening traveled across the world playing beautiful music. But by the age of 30, having achieved all the musical success he could ever imagine, Parkening felt empty. He was tired of touring and wanted to take a break from the rigors associated. Parkening ultimately decided to move to Montana and took up fly-fishing as a hobby.

    Soon Parkening was not only one of the greatest guitarists in the world, but also a world-class fly fisherman, with all the money and time he could ever want. And yet, despite all his success, his life was empty. He wrote: “If you arrive at a point in your life where you have everything that you’ve ever wanted and thought would make you happy and it still doesn’t, then you start questioning things. It’s the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

    At this point, Parkening began to wonder if anything could fulfill the deep longings of his heart. Around this time, while visiting friends, Parkening attended church. During the service, Parkening was struck by 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

    He explains, “I realized there were only two things I knew how to do: fly fish for trout and play the guitar. Well, I am playing the guitar today absolutely by the grace of God … I have a joy, a peace, and a deep-down fulfillment in my life I never had before. My life has purpose … I’ve learned first-hand the true secret of genuine happiness.” Now Parkening teaches classical guitar to students at Pepperdine University, albeit with a different perspective and lease on life.

Parkening was finally able to call off his search for something to complete his life when he discovered the only One who could truly bring a wholeness and completeness to who he is. The Apostle Paul explains our sole source for completeness like this:

“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority,” Colossians 2:8-10.

The Apostle Peter explains that with that union with Christ comes a full supply of everything we need to live the life God desires for us:

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires,” 2 Peter 1:3-4.

People throughout history have experienced what Parkening did — a lack of purpose and ultimate happiness in or from the pursuits of the world. All that changed for him when he was united with Christ. It was in his relationship with Jesus that Parkening found completeness.

So can you.

Scotty