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The Deep Longing
In the heart of every human being, there is a profound longing, a yearning for a place of true belonging. This yearning goes beyond our physical needs for shelter, or our social need for community. This desire to belong is a deep existential ache for our spiritual home.
In some ways the story that spans from Garden to Garden city is about how humanity has sought to fulfil this longing and still this ache. The ache and longing comes from our desire to be reunited with God. Ever since the fall of sin, we have been separated from our creator because of that sin, and the story of the Bible is really the story of how people have tried to bridge this gap. Some, like the people of Babel tried to fix this by building a big tower. Others, like the writer of Ecclesiastes tried to fulfil this longing through engaging in every pleasure and pursuit the world offered him. In their song “Roll away your stone”, Mumford and Sons describe it this way:
“You told me that I would find a home,
Within the fragile substance of my soul
And I have filled this void with things unreal
And all the while my character it steals.”
This is the essence of the human condition: the search for meaning, purpose, and a place where one’s soul finds rest. So how do we fill it?
The Futility of Earthly Pursuits
Our world offers us a whole range of ways to fill the void with “unreal” things. There is the alure of a successful career. Or the pursuit of romantic love. Perhaps it is the promise of TikTok fame, or the accumulation of wealth. Most of us who have pursued these things have either failed to attain them, and so we keep trying harder or harder, or we actually got what we wanted, only to realise that the initial rush and dopamine hit we get fades all too soon. Time and again, these pursuits prove to be mirages. The corporate ladder climber, upon reaching the peak, finds the view unfulfilling. The lover, after the initial euphoria fades, discovers that no human relationship can fully satiate the soul’s thirst. The wealthy find that riches cannot purchase peace of mind. None of these earthly pursuits satisfy the deep longing for home.
Jesus steps into this world and offers us a completely different path. What if the home we search for doesn’t exist in wealth, or fame, or romantic relationships. What if the home we have been searching for ever since the fall of sin, is a person. A person in whom we can “live and move and have our being?” (Acts 17:28). As part of his ministry, Jesus shows us that he is exactly that person. That he is the way, the truth, and the life.
The Way, the Truth, and the Life
In John 14:1-6, Jesus doesn’t just tell his disciples that he is a signpost to help guide them on their spiritual journey as they seek to fill the deep longing inside. He isn’t just a temporary shelter where people can rest for a little while, on their way to somewhere else. Now Jesus says that he himself is the destination. As "the way," Jesus is the road back to God. That desire to be reconnected to God that has existed in our hearts since the fall, can only be walked through Jesus.
As "the truth," He is the embodiment of God’s reality. This means that he provides true meaning and purpose and what he offers far outweighs the futility of the earthly pursuits mentioned above.
As "the life," Jesus is the source of eternal life, a life that begins not after death but at the very moment we believe and put our trust in him. Believing in Jesus fills the void Mumford and Sons talk about, not with “things unreal” that steal your character. Rather living in him fills the void with the most real, most meaningful, most lifegiving thing there is: the source of life himself!
This relationship with Jesus is more than just thinking right, or saying you belong to him. Having a saving relationship with Jesus is a journey that will transform you. It is being transferred out of a life that is governed by a pursuit of unreal things, into a life that lives for others as a way of loving the one who lived for you. True belief is also not flimsy – it cannot be taken from the believer. It is solid and sure for every believer. It gives us an anchor in this world, even when things go wrong. But belonging to the way, the truth and the life, so changes us that we start fulfilling the work God made us for.
The Work of those who belong to Jesus
You may remember that humanity was given a task to fulfill when God made us. To fill the earth and to subdue it. When we find our home in Jesus, this work is restored to the believer. When we are saved from our sins, we are commissioned into this work once more. To fill the earth and subdue it in Jesus name. Subjugation here is not through force or power – it is by love. Every act of love, every word of truth, every deed of kindness done in His name is part of this greater work. It is through these acts that the kingdom of God breaks into the world, transforming it bit by bit.
And strangely, we find that as we partake of this work, as we fill the earth and bring Jesus’ kingdom to bear on it, we no longer have that gnawing ache in our soul. We find ourselves, suddenly at home in his body. And in Christ, we find that we actually, and eternally, do belong.