This is a post I've written for the Zac's Facebook page.
This week in the #rethinkchurch series on Facebook I used the U2 song, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.
It reminded me that in a way it’s the theme tune of my life. I always seem to struggling for something. And then I wondered, “What is it I’m looking for?”
The first answer to come to me was perfection. I have written before about how, most days, I go to bed dissatisfied with myself. I have not been enough. There is a yearning in me to be more, to be better. Yet my failings constantly defeat my search for betterment.
And I know that is human. But it still frustrates.
So I wondered then, “What is the band looking for?”
Not having a hot line to Bono I’ve had to make do with what I could find on the internet. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine Bono said it was an anthem of doubt more than faith. I’m not sure that truly reflects the lyrics. Maybe an anthem of questions more than faith. So maybe they’re looking for answers.
Bono of course isn’t the first person to write about this search.
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
The psalmist is longing for more, for a more personal relationship. That comforts me, to know I’m in good company. And CS Lewis wrote:
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
“If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.”
So maybe the fact that I haven’t found what I’m looking for is a good thing. If I found it – or thought I’d found it – I’d be dead or a fool.
1 comment:
I spent many years searching for the answer to the question "Does God Exist?" Then I realized it was the wrong question. It doesn't matter if God exists. What matters is that there is a deep human need to simply connect with spirituality of some description. Spirituality does not require the presence of a deity, although you can conceptualize one if you want to. It's all a matter of mythology, not literal belief. That's the conclusion I came to and now I'm as happy and contented as a pig in, well, you know.
Post a Comment