What is it that we, as Christians, long for? What is it that we crave? What is it that will quiet our restless hearts? We want forgiveness, for we know our rebellion. We want joy, for we know our misery. We want justice, for we lament that the righteous suffer while the evil flourish. We want heaven, for we know we deserve hell.
There are many longings, many hungers and thirsts, that can drive us to the open arms of the Father. Yet behind them all there is a deeper longing, a brighter treasure, a higher good—God himself. The old Puritan William Strong says it well. “God only is the saint’s treasure and chief good; he lays up treasure in heaven and this treasure is God.”
The Bible tells us of a treasure hidden in a field and a man who gave up all he had to buy that field and acquire its treasure (Matthew 13:44). And that treasure is truly God. The greatest longings of our souls cannot be satisfied by forgiveness or joy or justice or heaven or anything else. They can be satisfied only by God, who is himself our treasure, our reward, our joy, our delight, the one without whom we have nothing, and the one with whom we have everything we could ever need.
