Wanting The Unobtainable

Some things in life are so wonderful. They really are. God has created a mesmeric world with so many things that are excellent and praiseworthy. A key component of understanding and enjoying God is a comprehension of the innate goodness of what He's created. It is good for us to cogitate on these things, desire them, and pursue them. The quandary arises when we want what we cannot have.

This is where I'm at right now. I desire something that is intrinsically good, holy, pure, beautiful, and Godly, but, for a number of good reasons, I can't have it. And there's this feeling in my heart when I consider this reality. It's not anxiety or pain really. Something just isn't quite right, my heart feels ill. So, is it wrong for me to want what I can't acquire? No. It's not wrong to desire that which is good. At the same time, even though this thing is [insert extensive list of positive adjectives here], I've got to let it go.

Why? It's affecting my heart. It's distracting my mind. It's not helping me follow Jesus. Because it directly disconcerts my heart, my mind ruminates on it, then my heart wants it, and after that I go into deliberating on whether or not to pursue it and how I would do that. When I am around that which I'm impassioned over or see someone that has what I long for, it only exacerbates the problem. I spend time living in this world of the imagination and not in the God-authored reality that is my current life. And my current life is magnificent.

It's really easy to become mentally abstracted in good things that aren't Jesus. At least I think so. They're much more likely to hinder me than the bad things that aren't Jesus, because the bad things are so obvious. We have to check our hearts, check our minds, and find anything in there - good things included - that is thwarting us from trusting, pursuing, loving, or living for Christ and let it go. For Christ here and now is better. When our joy is in him and focus on him, the illness of our heart is forgotten, for our great Hope is obtained.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4