-- John 6:35

I think that the feeling of longing for something is a useful window to understanding how man decides to chase after something. It is neutral enough. Not as praised as something like ambition. Not as animalistic as something like desire. Not said so simply, as something like a want. 

And it serves what it should be describing well- because such a feeling doesn't sound like the subject is merely economics. Nor does it indicate a topic that belongs only to the realm of psychology. Or for that matter, philosophy. 

We long for things. And longings can take the form of the abstractly existential to the intensely personal. It can be a matter that concerns just the moment, when time seems to lose its liquidity. It can be a matter that concerns a distant uncertainty, when the fuzziness of what has passed seems too fast to allow any rational grip on it. 

Longings however, do not grant us the fullness of life. In blunter terms - salvation is not found in being a self-absorbed whiner. In that ironic way, there really isn't much insight in fulfilling a longing. Using the same language, salvation is found beyond ourselves- when we cast our cares from our perceived insufficiencies to others' actual insufficiencies. When we let the self fade from the picture and be poured out, to serve. 

I believe that its through that principle, in the usually strange way how life works - God is hinting to us that our longings will only fully and purely be answered in the person of Christ.