Platinga discusses the concept of longing and hope first chapter of his book, “Engaging God’s World.” What caught my attention was the connection Platinga made between longing and hope. “Longing is an ingredient of hope.” He explains that if we sincerely and whole-heartedly hope for something, we must want it; if we want it, we will long for it. Since we have hope of God’s coming Kingdom and hope in our relationship with our Savior, we long for a time when we will no longer be constrained to our earthly bodies and when we will fully experience the complete intimacy of a perfect relationship with God. Yet this longing will never be fulfilled until we reach heaven.
I find the idea of an unfulfilled longing to be fascinating. It is fascinating because it is so visible in our world today; everywhere we look, we see men trying to fulfill its God-intended purpose by giving their hearts to something other than God. Every human being worships something, whether they worship God or not, and whether they are consciously aware of it or not. This longing that we have for heaven plays out in different ways. Because of our sin nature, our first natural and flesh-driven response to this longing is to satisfy ourselves and our desires, giving ourselves up to something other than God. But we will never be satisfied because earthly satisfaction is not what we actually long for. One we are redeemed and transformed by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit redirects our longing towards the hope and purpose God rightfully intended us for. When we live in and through the Holy Spirit, we desire God above all else and are satisfied in God. Yet we still live in our earthly bodies in a world where we do not belong. So that is why we continue to long for the day when we will be truly home, living in the fullness of what God intended for us, living in perfect relationship with God and glorifying him in everything we do.
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