In every single person, each one of us, there is a desire deep down that eagerly longs for something. It’s that feeling we get when, once we have achieved a task/goal/title or climbed the ladder and finally received what we were chasing after, maximum pleasure falls short. The thrill of the pursuit fades away and the reality of our position isn’t all that we thought it would be. Yes, in the depths of our very souls there is a void that cannot be filled. No matter how much crap we try to cram in there, it remains bottomless, even seeming to grow emptier. The in-between moments scare us the most because those are the times that our attention isn’t diverted away from our reality: we are bottomless people. Money can buy a lot of awesome, fun, and comfortable things but it will never satisfy our longings. Alcohol can ensure some fun times, and it definitely distracts our focus, but it will never fill up the abyss in our souls. Sex and relationships can bring counterfeit love, but that won’t amount to a fraction of the real thing. We can persist in listening to the lies that Satan has whispered into this world, allowing for ourselves to be openly trapped in sorrow. We can keep chasing after the wind our entire lives only to end up broken, alone, and miserable before we breathe our last. We can continue to ignore the yearning of our spirits for more than this surface level life that society deems the “American Dream,” but in our ignorance we are prolonging truth. There is, within everyone single human being ever created, a deep cry for more than flesh, for more than pleasure. It’s a cry for eternity, the very eternity that God placed inside our hearts when he formed us (Ecc 3.11). It’s vast, and it’s wide, but it is apart of us all. God put this in us so that we would search for Him, the true and living God, not the false “6-minute abs” version. He is the missing piece to the puzzle, the bridge for the gap, the chip for the block, the dot on the i and the cross on the t. When he came to this earth, Jesus proclaimed that he was “the way, the TRUTH, and the life…” The biggest mystery in this cosmic, planetary, scientific universe that we exist in is revealed to us in the truth of who Jesus is. In Colossians 1:25-27 Paul tells us “to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to the saints [we are the saints]. To them God has chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” In America, the gospel has been twisted and contorted so much that it has been drained of power. The truth is Christ, crucified, and risen from the dead, bringing about the ability to have a real, deep, and intimate relationship with God. To us all, believers and unbelievers, it is time to remove the veil from our eyes that has been blinding us from the truth. There is a God who is bigger than this world, he is better than any pleasure, stronger than any sin, and unlike mankind in all his ways. So, we have searched every corner of existence for a way to satisfy our bottomless souls and have found that there is only One who can. There are two ways to react to a loving God: the first would be to run. It’s what I did for many years. I ran because I was afraid of knowing someone so perfect and good and being so unholy and evil. The second (correct) response is surrender. When we genuinely allow Jesus to take full control of our lives, he changes us. Once we stand in the presence of such an awesome God, we are forever changed. When will we quit believing the death-filled lies of our enemy and listen to the living God? He is God. Trust in him. Let him take over. Give up. Wave the white flag. Stop running. Surrender.
