"Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise.
"We do not want to merely "see" beauty--though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words--to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.
"At present we are on the outside... the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the pleasures we see. But all the pages of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so. Someday, God willing, we shall get "in"... We will put on glory... that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch.
"The Christian says, 'Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists.' A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
"If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only... to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, echo, or mirage.
"I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to the other country and to help others do the same."
-Some words from Clive
This is awesome to think about because no one can deny that they have thought about there being something bigger and more glorious than themselves. This world cannot be as good as it's gonna get, and I want nothing more than for that to be true. It is not made true merely because that is what I think though; that is ridiculous. How could I create something so great as my God? I can't even begin to comprehend eternity or what kind of power God has. Even in my mind, which is capable of so many things that the world cannot offer, I am baffled by God and his grace--probably even more so in my mind than elsewhere because there I am given the perspective to experience God's power personally. Whomever was able to create such glorious things as mountains and laughter and wonder is the only one that can create such a thing as eternity and give me the perspective to recognize and desire such great things. A life with God offers so much more than anything I can dream of; it gives grace, redemption and life.
-Some words from me
Romans 8:24-25 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
-Some words from Paul
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