Longing for God

There is this relentless longing in my heart which makes me ask: What am I longing for?

Now on a good day, which is a day that I had the opportunity to interact in a significant and deep way with one or two people, this longing within me actually grows. Whenever I get to really connect with others, it's in these moments that I feel their intense longing which reinforces my own longing and deepens my own hunger for God. It's at the end of these days that I can't wait to be in the presence of God. Have you ever been so hungry or thirsty for something that it was painful?

Now, it's really easy to get bogged down by our earthly cravings and we all have to contend with these types of longings. What I'm talking about are our soul cravings. What is it that your soul hungers and thirsts for?

I'm reminded of Jesus' words that "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled (Matt 5:6)." Spend some time asking yourself this question: What does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness?

Alone with God

Since the beginning of this year, I have been making a concerted and intentional effort to give myself at least 30 minutes of face time with Jesus in the morning in prayer and worship. Before I even get out of bed, I turn the lights on, grab my bible and start reading. What I've come to realize is that there are so many things in this world that are vying for my attention and trying to pull my attention away from Jesus. If I don't start my day by connecting with Jesus in a real, deep and personal way, I've noticed that my days are much more burdensome. And the place where that happens for me is in reading God's Word.

How can I explain it? When I connect with God in the morning, I mean really connect with Him (and not just going through the motions, just to say I did it that my friends is legalism), it's like every morning God tells me that He loves me and that He'll be with me the whole day, strengthening me to resist temptation when I'm weak and helping me step out of my comfort zone in order to love somebody by being Christ to them. It's during these mornings that I get to hear that I am His beloved child with whom He is well pleased.

Every morning, I spend some time reading prayfully and canonically a psalm from books 1-3 of the book of Psalms and also a chapter from the Gospel according to Mark. On some days I'll read a little from Romans as well. I have no agenda, except to let the Word of God have its way with me, to let it do to me what it will. If I'm reading a psalm, I let the emotions of the words fill and resonate within my heart. We all have burdens that we carry, so I will oftentimes connect a current situation in my life to the psalm and let the psalm be my prayer to God.

After that, I get into the life of Jesus. I've been paying particularly close attention to Jesus actions. How He touched people. If you're like me, I have a tendency to gravitate and focus on Jesus' words (the red letters) because they are so profound and powerful. Jesus spoke to people's hearts and that truth changed them. So, most of the time, I'll just scan over the narrative sections (the black letters) making little mental notes of where Jesus is and where He's going. But, these days, I've been realizing that Jesus' compassion and humanity really shines in His actions towards people. He made it a point to touch people and allow Himself to be touched by people. I'll often imagine myself in the story, maybe as a person in the crowd tryng desperately to get a glimpse of Jesus or possibly even touch Him.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to touch Jesus?

New Beginnings

One of the books that I'm currently reading is called "Beyond Tolerance: child pornography on the internet," by Philip Jenkins. It's both arresting and alarming. Not only am I appalled at the depth of darkness that surrounds this sexual sin, but I'm dumbfounded at the brazen arrogance that Jenkins quotes from individuals within existing message boards and chat rooms, some of whom have been actively participants in this subculture for over 20 years.

You know just reading and thinking about child abuse makes my heart ache. Now, I'm not talking figuratively here, it seriously makes my heart ache. When I read about atrocities that happen to weak and helpless people, especially children, I will literally do all I can to just let the tragedy of the news change me. I want it to change me because when it does, I know that in that moment God has shared part of His heart with mine. When I start to weep I know that it is God who has revealed to me just how much He loves and cares for them and He has given me the priveldge to love and care for them, too. When I get infuriated at the injustice I know that it is God who has revealed to me just how much He is angered by each violating act committed against each individual person and that my anger is a reflection of His anger.

God to me is always the first cause. It is in Him that new beginnings can happen. He moves and we can either react in obedience or rebellion. We can either sumbit to the reality that He is God and that He does know what's best or we can rebellion against this reality thinking that we know what's best. Where do you fit?

Only God can truly make new beginnings happen for all child abuse victims. I want those three words to sink in: child abuse victims. Think about it, these three words should never be used in the same sentence, let alone in combination to describe a group. If you ever doubt the total depravity of human beings, just think about child abuse. Not only in the sense that these child molesters are completely depraved, but that most people (including me and you) do nothing to help stop it from happening. This my friends is also evidence of total depravity: when we could care more about our own comfort while children are being sexually violated and exploited

Now I'm not saying that we all need to quit our jobs and start campaigning full-time to end child abuse and exploitation (though that would be pretty sweet). What I am saying is that instead of buying that next latte at Starbucks, maybe you could forgo a latte a week and start donating that $5 to an organization that does. If you believe that God answers prayers than pray for change. Prayer should be a no brainer when it comes to child abuse and exploitation.

Pray that God would close down child trafficking rings or child pornography websites. Pray that child predators would be put in jail. Most of all pray that all the child abuse victims (please internalize these words and let them change you) would be set free and healed. My prayer is that if you're reading this, you will begin to pray for change and new beginnings.