Because God is not bound by space or time, the desire for God is unlike desire for things in this world. When, for example, we have yearned for food or drink and receive what we have longed for, our desire ceases. Often our enjoyment falls short of our expectations, and in the very moment of satisfaction, we begin to desire something else. But our yearning to see God will be satisfied only by knowing God more fully and more intimately. The more we know, the more we desire to know.
Robert Louis Wilkin, summarizing the thought of Gregory of Nyssa, a 4th century theologian, in The Spirit of Early Christian Thought (Yale, 2003), 301.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon was the most famous British pastor at the end of the 19th century. At its peak Spurgeon's church exceeded 5,000 regular attenders, and hundreds of thousands read his sermons weekly. Yet, the distinction of his preaching was that he spoke the...
“Hmmm…excuse me for a minute. I need to step out of the room.” The ultrasound tech had been tasked with imaging my transplanted kidney to make sure that the surgery to remove the pituitary tumor at the base of my brain would be safe for the kidney. Kidney transplants...
As I write this essay (summer 2020), I am five months past my last chemo treatment. My hair is almost fully grown back, although I think I will keep it shorter than I used to because it is easier to manage. It is July and I have been swimming in a friend’s pool for...
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