Our Life With God: Our Desire for God

Our Desire for God

People feel unhappy, and they don’t know why. They feel that something is wrong, but they can’t put their finger on what. They feel uneasy in the world, confused and frustrated, alienated and estranged, and they can’t explain it. They have everything and yet they want more. And when they get it, they are still left empty and dissatisfied. They want happiness and peace, and nothing seems to bring it. They want fulfillment, and it never seems to come. Everything is fine, and yet everything is wrong.

In [North] America this is almost a national disease. It is covered over by frantic activity and endless running around. It is buried in activities and events. It is drowned out by television programs and games. But when the movement stops and the dial is turned off and everything is quiet … then the dread sets in, and the meaninglessness of it all, and the boredom, and the fear. Why is this so? 1

Why are so many people so restless in this world?

We have been created by God, for God. We are created with a natural desire for God. We long and hunger for communion with God, whether or not we recognize it. We may try to fill this longing and hunger with other things: with busyness, with material possessions, with food, with alcohol etc. These things may be temporary solutions to our longing, but in reality, we still hunger and long for the only “thing” that will satisfy our desire – communion with our Creator, God.

“You have made us for Yourself,
and our hearts are forever restless,
until they rest in You, O God”
St. Augustine of Hippo

This statement of St. Augustine, a saint from the Fourth Century, sums up what it means to be human. We are created by God for God, and we are only truly ourselves when we are in communion with God.

Each and every human being is created with this longing in his or her heart. We can see by the many different religions of our world many different responses to this longing of our hearts. Everything that is good and truthful in these religions is a sign of God’s presence in the world.

God has been working in the world since its beginning, revealing Himself to humanity. The record of God’s self-revelation is found in the Bible. In the Bible we see God’s action in the world and the response of human beings to God’s action, beginning with creation, and ending in Jesus Christ.

Jesus, through his life, death and resurrection, shows us God and God’s plan for humanity. Through this, Jesus invites us to live in relationship with God. The collective response to this invitation is lived out in the life of the Church, which is the gathering of those who have responded to Jesus and have chosen life in communion with God.

The Bible

The Bible is not a history book or a news report that describes events, but rather it is a record of how God has acted in human history to tell us about who God is. The Bible is like a love letter from God, telling us about himself and who we are in relation to God.