Nostalgia

Pause:

Before you start reading this devotional, take a moment to stop what you’re doing, slow down and focus on Jesus.Pray and ask him to open your eyes to see as you read the scriptures, and to open your ears to hear as you wait on the leading of the Spirit.

Read:

Ecclesiastes 3:11: He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.

John 17:3: This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent —Jesus Christ.

Going Deeper:

Recently a good friend asked me, “If you could go any place in the world right now, where would it be?” That’s a lot of options to choose from, right? Instead of directing my mind towards the countless places I had never been, I instantly started reliving memories that brought me back to specific times and places from the past, revealing where my heart truly wanted to be. I pictured myself on a friend’s beach house balcony (a place I had been many times throughout the years), overlooking the water with good friends, good music and coffee in hand. In that moment, I found myself deeply longing to go back, just so I could experience the beauty, laughter and happiness that I’m convinced I’d feel if I were to visit again one day. What I was experiencing in this moment was pure nostalgia, and gosh, I’m a sucker for it.

Nostalgia is defined as that sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time. It is much more than reminiscing, and rather a feeling that evokes those warm fuzzies within us. For me, it comes when I recall past trips with family and friends, my wedding day, a favorite song from my upbringing, those sweet seasons of closeness with community, and now more than ever, worshipping on Sundays with my entire church family. It is a happiness attached to a deep longing for what once was.

During the past 6 months, I can’t deny the fact that this intense emotion has swept its way into my heart multiple times. If I could just relive the memory or go back to the place I experienced it, that deep desire will be satisfied. If I could just feel the ocean breeze on that balcony again, it will be just as good as the first time I visited.

But God, in his gentleness, reminds me that the longing for the happiness that comes from our past are merely glimpses of the magnificence and beauty that we have yet to see. Beyond all the heartfelt memories is a loving creator who is the actual source from which every encounter of pleasure we’ve experienced in our past originates from. Instead of leading us to long for the past, nostalgia can lead us to worship the ever - present God and propel us forward towards eternity.

Ecclesiastes 3:11says that God has placed eternity in our hearts, indicating that what we truly long for is more than our past joyful experiences and not a part of this world. Our longing was always meant to be satisfied through direct connection with God himself.

Not only has God placed this longing deep within our hearts, but he also provides the fulfillment of it by giving us himself. John 17 says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” By God’s radical grace, we get to know Him through the person and work of His son. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, who died to pay for our rebellion and offers us his perfection in exchange, we are able to build a relationship with our creator. Now, instead of nostalgia causing us to long for the past, we see it rightly as a pointer for the future we were always meant for, forever together with our loving Father, inheritors of His love for all eternity.

Pray:Respond to God in prayer by speaking to Him about what stood out to you from this passage this morning.

Listen:

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning?

Apply:

What are you going to do in response to what God is saying to you from the text and by the Spirit?