There are times in doing research in theology when something will start to dig not only into my mind for research and educational purposes, but also into the core of my very being and really search me. Reading from luminaries like Jeremy Taylor, author of The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living and Holy Dying, will do this perhaps more frequently than others. (Taylor's work was an influence upon John Wesley, which is why I found it appropriate for this blog.) Today I'm reading through Taylor's treatise, Jesus Christ - The Great Exemplar. The section that grabbed me was his exposition of the passage of the magi's visit to the child Jesus (cf. Matthew 2). His statements on the joys of finding what you're looking for stood out to me and I thought I would share.
The wise men prosecuted the business of their journey, and "having heard the king, they departed; and the star" (which, as it seems, attended their motion) "went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was"; where "when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy"; such a joy as is usual to wearied travellers when they are entering into their inn; such a joy as when our hopes and greatest longings are laying hold upon the proper objects of their desires; a joy of certainty immediately before the possession: for that is the greatest joy which possesses before it is satisfied, and rejoices with a joy not abated by the surfeits of possession, but heightened with all the apprehensions and fancies of hope and the neighbourhood of fruition; a joy of nature, of wonder, and of religion.With what I am pursuing in life, can I look into the future and say with surety or at least expectancy that when I achieve it or find it that I will be exceedingly joyful? What are you pursuing?
