"The whole of life of the good Christian is a holy longing." St Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.
As I pondered these questions... this is what I wrote:
I believe this to be a true statement(referring to the quote above). The "holy longing" is the longing to be in intimate fellowship with our Creator.
We are like the "moth to the flame" in that we are drawn to the light of God's grace and love, and to His perfect character... to His Glory. The closer to the flame we get the more our sins are illuminated and "burned off" in our confession and repentance. Our old self is "burned away" as our new self begins to reflect His glory more and more.
I have always been like that moth...drawn to God...drawn to living a life that will please Him. Longing to get rid of my old selfish and corrupt flesh and to be renewed by His Holy Spirit....even all the while, struggling to protect the flesh from the "burns of conviction".
I named this blog "Captive Heart" because that is my longing more than anything else on this earth...to have a heart captive to the love and grace of my Lord and Savior. That will continue to be my resolution in the dawn of this new year...to pursue the Holy and grow in intimacy with God. What about you?
Do you have a holy longing?
Gay, I really appreciate your thoughts. I have always had a desire to have an intimate relationship with God. With each challenge in my life I have grown in my walk with Him. There have been times when things were going so well that I lost that longing but He continues to put challenges (not all negative) in my life reminding me that I still need Him.
ReplyDeleteA verse that I have been meditating on lately is 1 Timothy 1:7, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." The Bible for Hope gave these thoughts on this verse, "Power helps us have strength of character and confidence in any situation. Love helps us graciously deal with difficult people. A sound mind helps us remain self-controlled and self-disciplined no matter what happens. We can set aside our worries and replace it with these gifts from God."
In our journey to attain holiness, we can face life's challenges with God's power and love. Blessings.
Good post
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