Truth Unites Christianity’s Best Argument Isn’t What You Think
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Mar 2, 2026 A reflection on the deep human ache of longing and why it matters for worldviews. C.S. Lewis’s idea of bittersweet yearning and vivid images like homecoming and music are used to illustrate the feeling. Different responses are compared: secular, Buddhist, and Christian accounts. The talk invites personal searching, prayer, and the possibility that the ache points toward belonging with God.
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The Ache Is A Restless Transcendent Longing
- The "ache" is a restless, sweet melancholy longing that signals a desire for something transcendent beyond everyday satisfaction.
- Gavin Ortlund links this to C.S. Lewis's Zainzucht and describes it as pleasurable in itself, like nostalgia or being called toward a far-off home.
Scenes That Evoke The Ache
- Ortlund uses vivid scenes (returning to a childhood house, hearing an old song, standing at the ocean) to make the ache relatable.
- These concrete images show the ache as simultaneous belonging and exile, pulling you toward a remembered home you cannot yet reach.
Christianity Reads The Ache As Homesickness For God
- Christianity interprets the ache as evidence we were made for communion with God and that exile can be healed through Christ.
- Ortlund cites Augustine: our hearts are restless until they rest in God, framing the ache as a true clue, not deception.
