Food for Thought Wednesday

Though this is in Crazy Love, it is a quote by Piper from his book God is the Gospel.

"The critical question for our generation - and for every generation- is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasure you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven if Christ was not there?"

I think this quote speaks for itself - it requires more thinking than writing/talking. But it raises several weighty questions. How do we desire Christ? Is He our desire? Or do we simply desire the lack of conflict and the presence of pleasure?

God has been teaching me that he has instilled in us a longing for the eternal; it is inherent in us. Nothing (nothing!) can fill this longing except the One who is eternal. All other things pass away - and purposefully so... so that we might be directed once again to the Eternal One. The friends, the absence of sickness, pleasure, natural beauty... none of these will fill us, so if they are what we are looking for, they will fail us. If we are looking for anything other than the person Christ, we are misdirected.

Think of him as a person - he was a man. He had hair on his head, and fingers and toes, and a laugh and smile. Do you long for this Jesus? Do I long for this Jesus? How much more we should long for him than we do!