We feel alive when we feel and know that others enjoy us. My friend pointed to The Seven Longings of the Human Heart book and said, “Every person was created with a craving in their heart to be pursued and enjoyed by others. This is the most significant yearning in our souls.”*
I found enjoy in the dictionary and read: to take delight in, find satisfaction in, be happy, to like, to love. Yes, my 
heart sings when I feel like someone enjoys me, he is happy around me, he takes delight in spending time with me. Isn’t it really what we crave?
In the absence of being liked or loved, pain and anger can rise to the surface. We frantically do something – anything – to cover up the pain. It’s easy to resort to unhealthy and destructive ways to mend our need to be pursued and enjoyed. Even if we try to deny our desire, it won’t be dismissed.
No matter what, we will seek assurance from people and circumstances that tell us we are enjoyed. It’s a natural response and is part of how we receive affirmation and fulfillment.
We need something or someone perfectly fitted for our heart longings and always faithful to tend to the depths of our soul. Jesus wants to be the One who satisfies us. He desires to be that close. He is the One who enjoys us the best.
We are hard-wired to find complete satisfaction from God. Or, we could say it’s in our DNA to be fulfilled by God. ”…He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness,” (Ps 107:9, NKJV)
Here’s an interesting twist of the first commandment: Let God love me in my heart, soul, mind and strength, and then I can love myself and others. Let Him be first, in this way. Every person was created with a craving in their heart to be pursued, delighted in, and enjoyed, first by God and then by family and friends.
It’s the “God first” part that changes everything.
© Sharon Gonzales. February 2, 2015.
*The Seven Longings of the Human Heart, by Mike Bickle with Deborah Hiebert, free download