Until you know deep inside that Jesus thirsts for you – you can’t begin to know
who He wants to be for you. Or who He wants you to be for Him. Mother Teresa

Dear Friends,

In 1916, with World War I looming large on the horizon, the editors of Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly felt compelled to encourage Americans to join in expanding the nation’s military force. They hired James Montgomery Flagg, a famous illustrator, to come up with a clever cover that would grab people’s attention. With little time to spare, Flagg ended up using himself as a model, and with a few changes, created the figure that would become known in generations to come as Uncle Sam. A few months later the military began an active recruiting campaign, using Flagg’s illustration for a poster with this caption underneath: I WANT YOU. The ad was hugely successful, although in truth, it might have read: I NEED YOU, given the number of recruits that were necessary for the war they'd soon engage in.

For many years of my spiritual journey, when I thought about the idea of God wanting me, I subconsciously assumed that this meant He needed me. After all, there was a war to fight, a job to get done, souls to see saved and eternity hanging in the balance. Zealous to be a good soldier, I toiled on, sometimes proud of my work, but more often disappointed in my failures and inconsistency.

Years later the Lord broke me out of that bondage, revealing His greatness in such a way that there could be no question of Him needing me or anyone else. That is probably why I have been captivated by three words in the passage we are pondering as we seek to live loved by God this year (John 17:21-26). They are; “Father, I desire…” So, what was the desire, the longing, the inimitable craving that consumed Christ’s thoughts in those final moments before His arrest? It was a passion for you and for me, for the pleasure of our company and the joy of intimate communion – not because He needs us to get the job done, but simply because He wants us. “Father I desire that they be with me, where I am…”. In eager anticipation of a deeply personal relationship with souls that His blood would purchase, Jesus prepared for His death.

While I have always seen the Cross as the apex of sacrificial love and the ultimate display of God's wrath over sin, I must confess that I’ve never truly grasped that Calvary was the outworking of a yearning that permeated His very heart. I am still trying to 'get' this. I've been reading a book about Mother Teresa's ministry and the vision Christ gave her early on, which fueled her every day of her life. Simply put, it was that Jesus 'thirsted' for the hearts of those He made in His image. As Saint Augustine wrote hundreds of years earlier: "God thirsts to be thirsted for."

Yesterday morning as I was trying to get my mind around this, I was telling the Lord that I didn’t understand how He could be consumed with longing, when there was no deficiency in Him. In other words, If He is the all-sufficient God and has need of nothing, where does desire really fit in? As I waited before Him, I sensed His gentle voice, saying: “I am not diminished by your failure to love me and live in my love, but I am enriched when you choose to do so. This is why I long for you.”

This is a mystery and a wonder – that God is enriched through His relationship with me. C.S. Lewis wrote of this once, saying:

to please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain.