Perhaps it’s become trite Christianese, but we say there’s a God-shaped hole in each one of us, and that the world is out there constantly trying to fill it up with something else. There’s something profound here; we do well to explore for ourselves, as well as for others.
According to Scripture, in Christ we find this inner fullness, satisfaction and contentment we’re all searching for: we’re complete in Him. (Co 2:10) Everything we need spiritually and emotionally is there for the taking in Christ; He loves us unconditionally, beyond our ability to comprehend (Ep 3:19), and He gives us ultimate meaning, purpose and fulfillment. (Php 1:21)
Christ is also breathtakingly beautiful, more so than any other being in existence (Ps 45:2a); He is the ultimate in moral excellence, majesty, might and power (2b-4), as well as the embodiment of the ultimate divine mystery. (1Ti 3:16) Jesus Christ is amazing on every conceivable level. (Ep 3:8)
So, unless we’re so deeply satisfied in God that we feel no enticement from the best the world has to offer, such that it doesn’t even begin to lure us away, we still have some healing to do here. It’s helpful then to identify areas in our lives where we still feel enticed to sin, to not love God with our whole heart, soul and mind (Mt 22:37); it’s here that the God-shaped hole remains exposed and empty in us, beckoning us to fill it.
So, where are we looking? Searching for what will satisfy and complete us? The perfect friend, wife or husband? or that perfect house or career? Whether it’s more toys, more acclaim, a pain-free, trouble-free life … if we look carefully and thoughtfully, we’ll see where we’re still in need of healing, where we’ve bought in to the lie that God Himself isn’t enough, insuffieicnt, that something else besides God will balm the wound and fill our emptiness.
Yet, the One Who made us knows our wounds better than we do, and only He knows how to heal them. If He Himself bore our griefs and carried our sorrows (Is 53:4), if He’s willing to take on all our demons and heal all our sicknesses (Mt 8:16-17), He’s willing to help us with the deeper, spiritual healing we need, sanctifying us in Him. (Ti 2:14)
Truth is, our old man will never be satisfied (Pr 27:20), no matter what; its very nature is to crave more and more. Christ didn’t come to fix our old man; He has already crucified it along with Himself. (Ro 6:6) We’re to reckon ourselves dead unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Ro 6:11) We are to abide in the energy and life of Christ within us (Co 3:3), Who’s always feeding in the majesty of God; we’re to be living out His life in Him and with Him. (4)
So, find each worldly thing that beckons us away, every distraction turning us from the love and perfection of Christ, and hold it up to the light in Him. Sense how He Himself compares this thing with Himself, and let Him heal the lie holding onto it with Himself. (Ep 1:17) Play this out before Him, with Him, in Him, examining it with Him, and examining Him alongside it, asking Him to deliver and quicken, to open the understanding (Ep 4:17-19), and drink in the vast, immeasurable chasm between this paltry little thing that promises to charm us, and Himself. (Ep 3:17-18)
Everything outside Christ can be made to look shiny and appealing if we look at it in darkness, in isolation from Christ. But out in the blinding, stunning, majestic radiance of Jesus Christ (Re 1:14-16), there is simply no comparison; nothing outside Him can abide His unveiled presence. (Re 20:11)
Let all these cheap, earthly trinkets vaporize before Him, let them all go … and be satisfied in Him. (Php 3:8)