A Blank Only God Can Fill

“In him we live and move and exist.”                        Ac 17:28 NLT

Here’s a time-tested maxim: “The heart is a God-shaped blank, and only God can fill it.” In Through the Valley of the Kwai: From Death-Camp Despair to Spiritual Triumph, Ernest Gordon writes about American soldiers who were captured, tortured, and starved by the Japanese in the Malay Peninsula in World War II. As a result they started acting like animals, clawing, fighting, and stealing food. In an effort to turn things around, the group decided to start reading the New Testament. And as Gordon read it to them they were converted to Christ, and this community of animals was transformed into a community of love. That’s because God lives in Jesus, and Jesus is willing to live in the hearts of those who trust Him. He offers joy, peace, a transformed life, and assurance of eternal life to all those who place their trust in His atoning death. So what are you using to try to fill the void in your life? Material possessions? Mood-altering substances? Sex? Career success? The pursuit of intellectual growth? Excitement? You may as well give it up now—it won’t work! Paul explained it like this to the philosophers in Athens: “God…made the world and everything in it…He…gives life…to everything…he satisfies every need…His purpose was [that we should] seek after God…feel [our] way toward him and find him—though he is not far from…us. For in him we live and move and exist” (vv. 24-28 NLT). In the words of the time-honored hymn: “Now none but Christ can satisfy; none other name for me. There’s love, and life, and lasting joy, Lord Jesus, found in Thee.”

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