Longing

This past Sunday our pastor spoke to us about longing: how the longing we have within us are really a yearning for heaven, how mankind has been longing for Eden since our first parents rebelled, how that longing is fulfilled only in Christ and through His resurrection.

No doubt we've all felt this longing - not the craving for a nice greasy cheeseburger and an icy Coke, but a deep, unidentifiable ache for something we can't quite name and certainly can't see. We feel it sometimes when we are in prayer, we sense it in a sunset, we are inexplicably overtaken by it when we are climbing in the mountains. Strangely, I often feel it when I'm travelling on my motorcycle.

A motorcycle journey is exponentially better in all aspects than travelling by automobile. All senses are heightened and the most subtle temperature changes are keenly noticed, and riding in the rain or in the mountains is something that only a biker can understand. Another benefit is the solitude. It's a rare gift to have hours instead of minutes to pray and think and dream (not the sleeping kind . . . ). And all of this experience brings with it a longing. Riding season has returned to my part of the world and I yearn to be on the road once more, to be stirred in my soul toward the intangible.

In 1 Kings, there is a description of life during the reign of Solomon (whose name denotes "completeness" and "peace"): "During Solomon's lifetime [each man] lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree." This is a sublime picture of our heavenly home, where and when the Prince of Peace will rule and His people will "live in safety, and be at ease, without fear of harm." This is the end toward which all our longings point: when we've shed finally and forever our corruption and the Savior reveals a new heaven and new earth liberated from its own bondage to decay. What a day that will be!