I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For…

What a strange dichotomy…

What a strange paradox…to have found Christ, but not what you are looking for.

A searching spirituality?

A succinct theology?

Or, a vulnerable integrity?

U2 — Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For from Adam Fromm on Vimeo.

In the third chapter of Philippians, writing to a church in Macedonia, Paul warns against those who would bring legalism back into battle with the grace provided in the good news. The passage is a testimony to what God has done and is doing in Paul’s life. Having attempted to reach God by perfect legalism of the Pharisee, Paul found another way— a pure righteousness that comes from God…not from the law.
Philippians 3:9: New Living Translation (NLT)

…and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

In “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”…Bono sings

You broke the bonds
You loosed the chains
Carried the cross
And my shame
And my shame
You know I believe it

In those lines, there is atonement. Redemption minus any ambiguity.

Yet, this is the very next line…”But I still have’t found what I’m looking for…”

This idea of not having found what we are looking for has nothing to do with Biblical Christianity—not in this life. To have found what you are looking for actually means you are with Jesus—in heaven.

Look around this world? The East, the West, the South, the North—tensions are rising all over the world. Do we really find what we are looking for? What about our churches? Hypocrisy, gossip, false righteousness, guilt building “pharisees”. Have we found what we are looking for? What about me? Egotistical, broken, selfish, not the best husband, son, or friend. Whew… I know I have not found what I am looking for. Yes, I believe the cross has changed everything, but there is so much more to look for.

Paul says: I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Do you think Paul could have phrased all the above with—I still haven’t found what I am looking for?

It is practical holiness we are striving for; to default to Jesus. As I look around and within, it still has not been found. My ultimate goal is to become who God made me to be.

It’s all about getting better, and it’s all about reaching for the prize—even if we don’t get there. Are we running, crawling, and scaling city walls to be with God and to bring some good news to turn the bad news of this world on its head? So, no. I still haven’t found what I am looking for—but I am not giving up either.

The Kingdom come [where] all the colors bleed into one.

I have climbed the highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you

I have run I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you
But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for

I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing in the fingertips
It burned like fire
This burning desire
I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was one empty night
I was cold as a stone
But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for

I believe when the Kingdom comes
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
But yes I’m still running.
You broke the bonds
You loosened the chains
You carried the cross
Of my shame
Of my shame
You know I believed it
But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for

But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for

_____________________________

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