Honoring the Ache

H

Every age has its own set of unquestioned presuppositions. Here’s one in our day: Getting what you want quickly is better than having to wait.This is why advertisers boast of faster internet, quicker results, shorter lines, easier access, top speeds, and fewer commercials.

Going without what you want produces an ache. When you get what you want, the ache goes away. This is why we pay a high premium for speed. The faster something is, or the faster I can get it, the greater its value.

Quicker is better.

But this presupposition misses an essential fact of life: Every ache is telling you something. Rush past the ache, and you may miss something important.

Consider the ache of unmet sexual desire. Quicker is better says sexual desire can be fulfilled virtually on demand, and so points to pornography, masturbation, a casual hook-up, adultery, prostitution, or something else to alleviate the ache and obtain the pleasure.

But is that it? Is that all the ache is telling us?

No. We’re made for something more. You’re made for something more. I’ll explore this more next time.

What do you think: Where have you experienced “quicker is better” to be untrue? How do you “honor the ache” in those areas where you have to delay instant gratification?

Longing,
Josh

Thanks For Reading.

You can receive more like this when you join Regen’s weekly newsletter, which includes 1 article, and 2 new Podcasts exploring God’s good, holy, and beautiful design for sexuality. Over 3,000 people subscribe. Enter your email now and join us.

5 comments

  • Good word.

    It is so hard to “honor the ache” when there is opportunity for instant fulfillment close by. It can take courage to press past physical compulsion and NOT give in, to honor that ache in hope of true fulfillment rather than sexually acting out. So much I have failed here. In the context of homosexual struggles, it’s surrendering the idea that should fulfill my insecurities as a guy in a sexual experience. It’s venturing into the unknown, into reality, to honor the ache and live with faith that there’s a more God-honoring way to fulfill those aches inside my heart.

  • Thanks for the reminder. Jesus waited 30 years before he was called or “outed” by His Father. Waiting for the Father to be my fullness in His time is the treasure that he is building inside of me for Him.

    Cheers

    Tim

By Josh Glaser

Photo Gallery