“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
-C.S. Lewis
I read the above quote in my devotional this morning and the reality of those words hit me like a ton of bricks. If you are anything like me, longing is a big part of your life. As humans we long for peace, justice, relationships, or maybe just a good nights sleep. As believers in Jesus, we long for Jesus to come back and rescue us from this fallen world. We long for the peace of heaven. We know we were made for another world, and we long for it.
In my current season of life I find myself plagued by longing more than usual. I long to fast forward through the next five months. I long for the moment when Ethan and I head out on The World Race for 11 months. I long for the day in which we finally reach our fundraising goal. I long for the life of abandonment that the Race promises. I long for the intense community that we will be living in. In short, I long to be in my future life, and not in my present.
I do not believe that longing in itself is wrong. I long for all of those things because God has promised them to us and I am unbelievably excited that God is going to use us in an incredible way. As soon as I let the longing consume me and I forget to live in the present, that’s when it becomes wrong. In Esther 4:14 it says, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Whether I choose to acknowledge it or not, God has placed me where I am for a very specific reason. I firmly believe that. I also believe that every single day I have a choice. I can choose to sit in my longing and waste my days thinking about the future, or I can release my future to God and allow Him to use me today.
I believe this is so important. Especially for my squad mates who will be traveling with me around the world in 5 short months. Live in the present. Allow God to use you now, even in the mundane circumstances of your everyday life. Our God is big and powerful and sovereign. He will use you to change the world right where you are if you let Him.
