Desperate

Have you ever been desperate for something?

I don’t just mean a strong desire but rather something that you would despair if you did not have it?

Sometimes, sadly, we think we are desperate for that new piece of technology or for that particular food/snack/drink, or that we are desperate to “get away.” But the truth of the matter is that we are (or ought to be) only really desperate for a few things

If the body doesn’t have air or food or water, that situation can come to a point of despair.

If a heart/soul doesn’t have love that can become despairing.

I would propose to you that there really are only two things we should be absolutely desperate for (more than a dying man in the desert who needs water):

1. We need to be desperate for God. Of course He avails Himself to us, has taken the initiative to not only create us and give us a purpose, but also to provide for us, offer us salvation and take the first step so that we can know Him and know what He is offering to us. But we still need to recognize our desperate need for God. There is a God-shaped hole in all of us and until He fills it, everything else will continue to leave us empty.
2. We need to be desperate for spiritual health/life/growth. It is not enough to know that God exists or even to begin a relationship with Him that we end up neglecting. We need to have growth. We desperately need to strive to be with Him, and learn to be like Him and to make every effort to avail ourselves to Him that He can fill us, flow through us and use us for His glory.

My life would be a life of despair, depression and emptiness if not for God. And furthermore, I can always tell when my spiritual life is stagnating because if I am not drawing closer to God, then the only alternative is that I am drifting from Him.

I want to challenge you that you don’t need to pine after so many empty and meaningless things in this life. If you pursue God and His kingdom and His righteousness above all else, He will surely take care of what you need. If you become hungry and thirsty for God and desperate to learn and grow spiritually, you will find that your life has greater meaning, greater fulfillment and greater hope than ever before.

I pray that you will discover what it is to be desperate for God and desperate to grow spiritually. There is nothing else like it.