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Rev. 9/23Our Universal Hunger for Something MoreMatthew 11:29-30___________________________________________________________________Rod MacIlvaineWhat is it that the human heart longs for most? Is there a common yearning that all humans encounter? On the surface, that question seems impossible to answer. In the year 2020, 7.8 billion people reside on planet earth. Our world population grows at 81 million people per year. And with about 650 ethnic groups in 190 countries, our world is rich in diversity. With all that diversity, how could we ever discover any universal longing of the human heart? In addition to that, it’s become politically incorrect to suggest that there could one answer to the human dilemma. Surely there must be multiple answers, right? And shouldn’t everyone be free to cobble together their own meaning wherever they find it? Some even get downright angry when you suggest the possibility of universal meaning. They say, “Don’t impose your meaning on me. I have my meaning; you have yours. Just leave me alone.” But I think there IS a clue to the universal hunger of the human heart. That clue comes from reality of death, coupled with, our aspirations for life. The one thing we know for sure is that all of us die. Death is the one experience that unites us all. If we’re in good health, we might get 80-90 years, but accidents happen, and that long life we hoped for sometimes gets cut short, and what happens then? The feelings of disappointment and angst that rise in our soul are a clue to human longing. I’ll sum it up in one word: Transcendence. All humans hunger for transcendence, and here’s why. We’re finite; but we can imagine the infinite. We die; but we can comprehend existing beyond the grave. When a finite being seeks permanence, and can’t find it, it creates longing. And that longing is the hunger for transcendence. Some of our greatest thinkers have expressed this brilliantly. After St. Augustine converted from paganism to Christianity in the 4th century, he prayed this: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” The greatest mathematician of the 17th century, Blaise Pascal, expressed it in a slightly different way: “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man and woman which cannot be satisfied by any created thing except God.” C. S. Lewis called the desire for transcendence “longing.” For Lewis, longing was a deep…feeling of intensely…where you sense you’re missing something, even when you don't know exactly what it is.” He said, “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.”The Bible expresses it this way in Ecclesiastes 3:11: “God has planted a desire for eternity in the human heart.”The universal hunger of all humans is transcendence, but that transcendence must come from something or someone beyond ourselves. I think the COVID-19 pandemic (and all the complexities that came with it) have awakened that sense yearning in many. People are searching: They’re looking for something more. They are aching for something deeper. And that’s where the words of Jesus provide tremendous hope. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”Jesus’ invitation is a promise of transcendence through a relationship. By linking up with Jesus, we receive a gentle friend…an empowering friend…a humble friend. By linking up with Jesus we receive a friend who will grow us, energizing us to do hard things in fellowship with him. And the great thing about Jesus is that he doesn’t shame people into coming to him. He never harangues or berates. He invites us to present our unfulfilled longing to him in exchange for his fullness. *****As I pray today, I want to especially pray for those who sense their unfulfilled longings and haven’t yet found the answer. Father, we thank you that you are the God of the Universe. You are the creator of all that is, including the human race. We honor you that you are the source of meaning, value and purpose. Because you have placed eternity in every human heart, we affirm that we are, by nature, seekers. We’re all seeking after something, and ultimately we’re seeking after you. I pray for those whose lives have been disrupted by the events of this year. The Coronavirus, the lockdowns and the subsequent complexities have brought fear to some, financial vulnerability to others, and relational strife to still others. Marriages have suffered. Families sometimes feel that their tribes are in chaos. And many professions have felt this chaos most intensely…, like teachers, police officers and medical professionals. Father, I pray that those who are searching would, like St. Augustine, turn their restless heats to you, so that they might find their rest in you. I pray for those with deep longings that they too would turn to you with the hope that you would fill those longings with your fullness. I pray for those who feel their God-shaped vacuum acutely. I ask that they would come to Jesus first to encounter his saving work, and then to enjoy his abiding presence that brings fullness of joy. We pray all this in Jesus’ name, Amen. ................
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