THE HUMAN BEING LONGS FOR GOD
The psalmist compares man who knows God to the deer in that it always seeks the springs of water, which guarantee its refreshment and life. Thus he says: "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?" (Psalm 42:1,2). However, this longing of human beings for the Creator does not concern only those who love Him, but all of fallen humanity.
This fact can be observed in the exorbitant number of religions and divine conceptions that exist in the world. In all peoples and cultures, this human brand of religiosity can be seen. There is a thirst for God in man. Traces and aspects of the Creator in the human being generate in him a longing for God. But, because of his sinful condition, his religious expression constitutes only a his own creation, full of mistaken impressions and perceptions of the created world, without ever reaching God. His gods are only images of what is existent.
Even in so-called Christian religions one observes this disconnection between religious praxis and the spiritual Kingdom of God. Layers of religious tradition cover up the revealed core, so that people talk about God, Jesus and other aspects of divine revelation, but what really counts are the traditions of the institution and the theology of the ruling class. The gospel of Christ is a mere detail. What goes on in these religions is nothing but dead religiosity and their followers have never had a real encounter with God. Although many express deep religiosity, they do so only in the realm of form, liturgy and tradition, and in this way they never reach the Father, the Son and the Spirit. Many others are only nominal Christians.
It is at this point that many, guided by a more discerning reason, come to affirm that God does not exist and that religion is nothing but uselessness. For where there should be life, there is nothing; where there should be truth, there is only human creation. Even with all their power and influence over society, these men cannot prevent mankind from insisting on religiosity, because the anguish of living apart from the Creator is great. Feeding the religious illusion eases this pain, but this only distances man from God more and more. For God is not in religion, but in the revelation of Himself to the sinner.
But those who have experienced rebirth to God through the action of the Spirit in their being (John 3) are satiated in their innermost being by God's presence, however faint, in their expressions of worship. Faint because, as the Apostle Paul says, "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12). For this reason, Christians, in their anguish, pain and sadness resulting from the Fall, thrust themselves toward God, because they know that in Him they will find refreshment for their souls. It is as David said: "I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears" (Psalm 34:4).
But Christians long for God not only because of their pains. God's very being attracts them. His perfection, His eternity, His glory, His power, His love, His holiness attract the human being, created in His "image and likeness", to Himself, because that is what, deep down, he desires. The creature wants to be like the Creator and to be at His side. The man without God, however, does not achieve the fullness of this experience, for he follows his own righteousness, despising the divine one (Romans 10:1-4). But the Christian, who is already connected to God, by the action of the Spirit, through his faith in Christ's sacrifice, already sees God, even if in "an obscure reflection"... He knows, however, that one day he will see Him "face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12).
What does the Christian see when he
worships God? What drives him to this unceasing search for God? Those whose
"eyes of the heart" have been enlightened to see spiritual reality
(Ephesians 1:18), even in this life, should not be troubled by the
misunderstanding and sometimes hatred of them by those for whom God does not
exist. They do not know God (John 15:18-25). They have not attained faith and
therefore do not understand the love and longing for God. As the Apostle
thinks, faith is not for everyone (2Thessalonians 3:2).
Antônio Maia – M. Div.
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