This week I want to talk about the letter “L” and the word that goes with this letter is longing. If we want to live a life that would please Christ, and draw us closer to him, we have to long to want to be close to him. So, what does this word long mean to us as Christians? When we long for something it means that we have a deep desire that something will happen. This is not the same as us hoping something will happen. When we hope something happens, we basically feel that it can, but we also wish that it does. The main difference between hoping and longing is when we long for something to happen, we might attempt to make sure it does.

With this definition in mind, what are some reasons we should long for our relationship with God to go deeper? I found an article titled 13 Amazing Benefits of Drawing Near to God. This article simply gives 13 reasons we should long for God. I would encourage you to read it since I am only sharing three of the reasons.

One reason is because God wants to be closer to us and this happens when we draw closer to Him. James 4:8 says “draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” It is a simple fact that the closer we get to someone, they get closer to us. Now for people, this can be a little tricky because there are some people who push away when others want to get closer to them. But not God. His desire is for us to be near to Him. So, we should long to draw closer to Him so He can draw closer to us.

Another reason to draw closer to God is so we can hear him in a clearer voice. John 10:4 says “…and his sheep follow Him because they know His voice.” There are a lot of voices we hear each day on the radio, on the news and on the internet. Sometimes the voices can be so loud that we fail to hear the voice of God as He tries to lead and guide us. When we draw closer to God, we will be able to hear His voice more clearly so we can follow Him.

A final reason we should long to draw closer to God is so He can give us the strength we need to follow Him. Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” We are not able to do the things God wants us and needs us to do on our own. We have weaknesses. Paul shared this with the church at Philippi. He wanted them to know we need God to help us and we can find that strength as we grow closer to Him.

Let me ask you today, do you hope to draw closer to God or do you long to draw closer to Him? Drawing near to God is so beneficial, but we have to long for it and make the effort for it to happen. Until next week…

Peace and Blessings…

Johnny