The picture to the left is of an intricate castle. However, it is different from many castles in that it is made of sand. The little figurines that look like people are actually sand. So are the trees surrounding the castle. What looks like a legitimate kingdom, though, is actually an imitation kingdom. It’s an imitation of a true reality: kings and kingdoms. But it’s a minute imitation nonetheless.

This contrast of kingdoms is one that Paul Tripp notes in his book, A Quest For More: Living for something bigger than you. Now, before you dismiss the book because of its familiar rhetoric in the church today (“You were made to live for something greater”), listen to Tripp’s analysis below. Paul Tripp has a way of analyzing and articulating truth as it relates to the human heart that is unparalleled. His words are colorful and insightful as well as piercing and refining. On page 16-17 he writes,

We were meant to do more than make sure that all of our needs are fulfilled and all our desires are satisfied. We were never meant to be self-focused little kings ruling miniscule little kingdoms with a population of one. Sure, it’s right for you to care about your health, your job, your house, your investments, your family, and your friends. It would be irresponsible to act as if none of those things mattered. Yet it is a functional human tragedy to live only for those things. It is a fundamental denial of your humanity to narrow the size of your life to the size of your own existence, because you were created to be an “above and more” being. You were made to be transcendent.

What we’ll learn, as Tripp reveals, is that we must tie the transcendent way we are created to glory. To fail to do so will only lead to shallowness and despair, narrowing our lives to the “size of [our own] existence.” We’ll discuss four types of glories that ground our desire for transcendence next post.

If you’re interested in Tripp’s book, you can get it below from Amazon or here from WTS.