Why we seek “something larger than the material world”

What do these headlines in today’s news have in common?

• “Pope Francis shows slight improvement and resumes some work, while still critical, Vatican says”
• “World leaders flock to Kyiv to declare support on Ukraine war anniversary”
• “Roberta Flack, Grammy-winning ‘Killing Me Softly’ singer with an intimate style, dies at 88”
• “Lester Holt to Step Down as Anchor of ‘NBC Nightly News’”
• “Starbucks to Lay Off More Than 1,000 Workers”
• “American Airlines flight from NYC to New Delhi diverted to Rome, escorted by military jets”

One answer is that in recent years, we’ve seen versions of them all:

• Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II faced significant health declines toward the end of their lives.
• Yesterday marked the third anniversary of Russia’s horrific invasion of Ukraine, but this was not the first time Vladimir Putin invaded their land, much less the first invasion in their war-torn history.
• Wikipedia’s “List of 2025 deaths in popular music” had fifty-one entries before adding Roberta Flack.
• Norah O’Donnell ended her tenure as CBS anchor earlier this year.
• Applebee’s, IHOP parent Dine Brands, Panera Bread, and Outback Steakhouse parent Bloomin’ Brands have all laid off employees recently.
• Bomb threats have recently disrupted one hundred flights to India.

Connecting to a “transcendent realm”

Here’s one more fact that hasn’t changed: You have likely filtered everything you’ve read thus far through a prism labeled, “What does it mean for me?”

This is because you were made for a meaningful life and don’t want to waste your time on what doesn’t matter. Unlike everything else God invented, you were fashioned to partner with him by protecting and promoting his creation (Genesis 2:15). Next to fears related to survival and family, your greatest concern is that your life won’t have been significant when it’s done, that you won’t have made a difference that matters.

I’m the same way. So, according to psychologists, are we all.

That’s why one cultural psychologist encourages us to develop close relationships, connect to a larger community, engage in work that provides a sense of purpose and mastery, and especially connect spiritually with a “transcendent realm” so that we feel we are part of “something larger than the material world.”

This spiritual connection has been especially on my mind in light of some passages I encountered recently in my personal Bible study.

If Zeus told you to give away your home

In Exodus 5, Moses told Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness’” (v. 1). However, Pharaoh responded, “I do not know the Lᴏʀᴅ, and moreover, I will not let Israel go” (v. 2).

This is to be expected. If Pharaoh does not “know” God (the Hebrew means to “know personally” or “understand”), why would he respond to a message purportedly from him? If someone told you that Zeus commanded you to give away your home, would you do it?

Jesus similarly told Pilate, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37), but Pilate responded, “What is truth?” (v. 38). Because the Roman governor did not believe in “the truth,” or at least that Jesus spoke it, he put himself before his Savior and condemned Jesus to crucifixion.

Again, we should not be surprised. If a Muslim told you that the Qur’an was “the truth,” would you join her for Ramadan this Friday?

By contrast, Jesus declared: “Blessed . . . are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28, my emphasis). It is not enough to “hear” (the Greek means to “receive news of”) God’s truth as did Pharaoh and Pilate; we must “keep” it (the Greek means to obey as a lifestyle).

Here’s the catch: for fallen humans to “keep” God’s word, we need the help of God’s Son.

Don’t be distracted by this Daily Article

In Mere Christianity, CS Lewis wrote:

What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside of God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

However, if we’re not careful, “something other than God” can include God.

Here’s what I mean: If we’re settling for anything less than a daily, transforming, intimate relationship with the living Lord Jesus, we’re not really experiencing God. We may be experiencing a religion about him, but we’re missing a relationship with him.

In this sense, all the Bible studies and worship services and Daily Articles in the world can be a distraction from the real thing—actually, the Real One. They are words about God rather than an engagement with him.

And like fishermen who study fish but never go fishing, our time hearing the word of God keeps us from keeping it.

By contrast, Oswald Chambers explained Paul’s transformation in this way:

“The mainspring of his life was devotion to Jesus.”

Paul did not just love the Lord—he was “in love with Jesus Christ.” And this changes everything.

When we are truly in love with someone, we love what they love and hate what harms them. We seek their best over our own. We would do anything to serve them—whatever it takes, whatever the cost.

So, may I ask: Would Jesus say you are “in love” with him today?

If not, why not?

Quote for the day:

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love [with God], stay in love, and it will decide everything.” —Joseph Whelan, SJ

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Denison Forum