Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Filling the Void

This is going to be a relatively short post, y'all, and I know it's been awhile....it's just something God's been really weighing on my heart recently. Every single one of us, even those of us who are passionately in love with God and give our relationship with Him an A+, have some sort of vice that competes with God for our time. For me, I try to fill my time and occasional emptiness or loneliness with cooking or eating food, anything funny, school, working out, a hobby, obsessing over relationships or "primping" and trying to "become more beautiful." It could be anything and I'm only just now realizing how easy it is for anything to be an idol in our lives. Maybe you have a prized possession, characteristic, talent, person, goal. Maybe your idols swing the other way and you've let yourself become overwhelmed with negative thoughts, stresses, standards, and rules. Maybe you, like me, allow other people's opinions of you to control you at times or focus on creating a some sort of identity to "become." At various times in my life, I've gone through phases of trying to be "the athletic one," "the attractive one," "the funny one," "the smart one," "the one who's got it all together," or even "the Christian one."

It's so easy for us to get caught up in everything around us, from our daydreams and thoughts, to our desires and goals, to our actions and habits, to our stresses and worries, to our relationships, friends, and family-- even a comfortable lifestyle complete with the daily Starbucks latte can become an idol. My point in all this is to provoke a sincere, honest self-analysis. What are the things in your life that take your attention from your Creator, the One who knows you better than you know yourself? He wants our full attention and to have our full trust! If we're telling Him we trust Him while trying to, simultaneously, do our own thing....what's the point? When we allow ourselves to step back and find Him in the midst of our schedules, to-do lists, and goals, when we search for Him and His perfect will in all that we do, when we surrender our plans (from where we'll retire one day to what we're doing this afternoon) to Him, and when we seek His peace in the midst of all this craziness, we will find His promised joy and calm.

When we let ourselves really be vulnerable before our Father and Maker, when we disclose our feelings, fears, doubts, desires, and plans....and then lay them at His feet and rest in His constant arms, we will find the contentment that can only be found in Him. When we don't have that contentment, we search for it in every possible domain of life, but will only find more emptiness. Seek Him in every aspect of life, surrender your plans for His, and bask in His love and mercy for us. He will fill that God-shaped hole in our hearts and still have plenty left.

Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."