Unfortunately, all of us humans ever reach our deepest longing. C. S. Lewis writes, "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong...fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased." I certainly feel like this in my own life. My dad, 59, recently told me that the secret to life is reading. I trust my dad, so why do I play videogames when I should be (pardon the cheesiness), engaging God's world.
The second point Plantinga tries to convey is that the deep longing to be with God produces hope. Plantinga entitles this the Hope for Shalom. Shalom is peace with God, and it is this that humans deeply yearn for. This yearning produces a hope for mankind, that, though we are in a fallen world, we may be redeemed by God. We are a large part of this fallen world, and the hope produced by longing allows a certain persistence in reforming the world. Plantinga does help me realize why Calvin is a proponent of such things as adoring nature, and even worldly things. It is the longing for God in everything we do.
Do you find it interesting that "peace" usually involves a lot of doing? We are always working for and towards the kingdom, for and towards Shalom. I think a lot of people consider "peace" and "rest" the same thing. But there is peace in doing: we are often most content when things are changing and being renewed.
ReplyDeleteI like the C.S. Lewis quote in your submission. It points out how foolish we are by nature, where we don't have an interest (in fact, because of sin we really can't take an interest because we are a slave to sin.) But, thanks to God that we have Jesus Christ who died for us, taking away our bondage to sin so that we do take an interest in Him.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you related our longs to helping us reform the world. I think that God wants us to have big dreams, but he wants us to dream what he dreams. We all too often have selfish desires that prevent us from taking our place in God's big and intricate plan to revive his creation and bring it back to its intended goodness.
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