We humans long for blissful days—unchanging, joyful, stretching out year after year. This is the yearning of our hearts. We believe that happy days on this earth will satisfy us. We don’t like change; we want all to remain lovely and idyllic; we want paradise on earth. We want it now! That is what our hearts crave.
What we don’t recognize is that we crave heaven. That is when we get the ideal. Not here.
When we don’t have perfection in this world, we feel as if something is wrong, as if we’ve been cheated. Where is God? How could he allow this? The wreck sin and death have made of the world precludes the bliss we expect. Satan tempted. Adam ate. Sin and death still do their work. We feel it every day.
Our bodies grow old and betray us; our friends let us down; our loved ones die; people don’t comprehend our pain; cancer strikes; accidents happen; life courses are altered. Bit by bit, we’re stripped of the illusion that everything can ever be alright in this world.
But someday this world will be redeemed, restored, all made beautiful again. The King will return.
What we need is Jesus. We don’t usually recognize it at first. Thinking success, family, vacations, money, education, fill in the blank, will satisfy us and give us the bliss we crave, we go running out into the wider world, looking for fulfillment. But then dreams crash. The hollow place in our hearts grows deeper and more painful as we see that none of these leave us full. We feel despair.
What we desire is Jesus. Why do we run from him? Why do we flit from other lover to other lover, trying to fill the craving place? We just need him. He takes all the wreckage of our lives and weaves it into a beautiful story that makes sense. He makes beauty from what is shattered. He understands all our pain; he knows us like no other. He comforts and encourages. He gets us through this life and into his arms at the end. He gently reminds us that this life is just a prequel to much better things to come. He gives meaning to nonsensical tragedy.
Sometimes the testimony of others makes this clear to us. Please click on the link below and watch the video at the bottom of the page. Two young lives have touched my heart, disrupted my sleep, and filled my mind with these considerations and with prayers for them. See how Ian and Larissa have learned that Christ is all we need. The lesson is vivid.
Two follow-up blogs by Larissa:
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/why-we-got-married
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/learning-contentment-in-suffering
What an amazing couple! They definitely show what a marriage should be. We have a couple in our church who remind me so much of this couple….only they are now 20 some years down the road from the automobile accident. It is amazing how God enables us to glorify Him in all things. Desiring God is where I strive to be. This world pulls at us to desire so many other things. I’d better get Piper’s book on marriage. I’m so looking forward to heaven or Christ’s return. This world is not my home!
I want to read the book, too. I’m amazed by Ian and Larissa’s story. God is magnified through their lives.
Another follow-up blog by Larissa: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/a-daily-disabled-life