Saturday, August 12, 2017

Desires and the Longing to be Known

If we were created by God, then the desires that we have are, at their roots, something both attainable and good. However, we have twisted and perverted much of these desires much of the time, so that they no longer serve the ends for which we were created. If we focus on fulfilling desires in a godly manner (say, by making worship of God in life as our main focal point), we will find that life can be much more satisfying. What do I mean here?

Take, for example, our Western culture’s desire to be famous. All many of us want is to become YouTube famous, or be part of a viral video, or become a sought-after singer, model, or actor/actress. This often leads us to think, say, and do a variety of things that are, shall we say, less than godly. It often leads us toward self-centeredness, and our character suffers. How can this desire be something good?

Simply put, I believe this desire to be famous is fundamentally a desire to be known. And this desire to be known is a perfectly normal response to the way in which we have been designed. On the Christian story, we were made to be in a loving relationship with God, our Creator and Father. Humans are made in his image, to know him and to be known by him. Further, we were made to live in community with other humans. We were made to know them and to be known by them. So it only makes sense that God would create us with this desire.

“Now wait a minute,” you might be saying. “There’s a big difference between the desire to know and be known (with respect to God and others) and just wanting to be famous.” That’s absolutely correct. Since humanity is lost—since we all have sinned, or failed morally—we have a tendency to have twisted desires. Instead of desiring to know and be known by God and others, we desire to be known by all, to serve our own ends.


But this is where the Gospel provides hope. Where all we have to look forward to, from culture’s perspective, is being known by a certain amount of people for our own purposes, and nothing greater, God provided a way to get back to that great design, that great purpose—in the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth. What do you think about Jesus? Would you want to follow him? Would you want to trust him? If you don’t know much about him, check out this really brief video:

3-Circles Life Conversation Guide Demonstration from North American Mission Board on Vimeo.

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