When I was younger, I felt that there was always something missing in my life. I didn’t know what it was but I searched for it and, for many years I never found that “fulfillment” that I felt was missing. No amount of reading books or meditation or smoking “pot” or drinking could fix that empty place inside. I didn’t try all of the “things” that I could have, thankfully. But I still craved something that wasn’t there.
It’s kinda like a puzzle. When you are trying to finish a puzzle and there is a piece missing it will never be finished and whole until you find the piece that fits. God placed a desire for Himself in our souls and that is the missing piece that we feel. Yet, we walk through life looking in all sorts of places for the “something” that we feel is missing. Each of us feels that something is missing and sometimes this feeling lasts for many years until we finally feel the touch of the Holy Spirit that lets us know exactly Who is missing from our hearts.
“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1 (NIV)
It is God and Jesus that we are searching for. It is their influence and their Presence in our lives that we long for. Many of us live every day thinking about all sorts of problems and worries that we can do nothing about when we should hand them over to God and thank Him for taking care of them. Then, go about your normal routine like those “problems and worries” are already taken care of. This is good advice but most of us rarely follow it. We pray about our worries and then after we finish the prayer we begin to worry about the problem we just prayed about.
Many Christians, who are born-again, attempt to “help” God even though we think we are giving Him control over our lives. When you are tempted to worry about a problem, ask God to help you give it back to Him. I know this works because I have to do this multiple times a day. My Mom and grandparents were “worriers” so I acquired this habit as well but since I began reading through God’s Word every year, I have gradually come to the point of letting go. It isn’t easy but it can be done.
When you feel a problem is becoming too burdensome, begin reading and praying through Psalms. It helps with depression and pain and almost any other emotional problem that you will face. God’s grace is with you, especially when you have given your heart to Him. Seek His counsel in all things and He will comfort you in all things.
God sent His Son to be the Lamb that takes the sins of the world on Himself. He did die on the cross but He rose from the dead three days later conquering death and the grave. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s love for humanity because He showed the effect of God’s love on everyone He ministered to during His three years of teaching.
So, why do we think we can’t be useful to the One Who called us to follow Him? If you have given your heart to Him and you are a born-again Christian, you were called by the Holy Spirit into His family. Your position in life or your lack of work to Him. You can be useful in His Kingdom in whatever way He has gifted you with abilities to do. Having money or a position or education doesn’t matter to Him because He equips those whom He calls. We are given gifts and abilities that only we have a real ability to use for Him.
When I titled this as “Love died on a cross”, I didn’t mean that God’s love died on that cross. I meant that the personification of His Love died on the cross. God loves us in such a way that we can’t understand it and His anger toward the people who reject Him is equally powerful but it is still tempered by His love. God can uniquely use each of us to reach people that others may not be able to reach.
God’s love is such that even if we only reach that one person, it is enough. God values each of us to the extent that your soul and mine would’ve been enough to send Jesus to Earth to die for us and save us. Even if we were the only two that were saved. It is very hard to understand compassion and love like that, in fact, we can’t understand it on this side of Heaven.
Like the story that Jesus told of the pearl that the merchant sold everything for just to acquire, a pearl of great price. Each of us is like that pearl to God our Father. We are each worth His Son’s life to gain souls and a place in Heaven. The biggest mistake that the early church made nearly two thousand years ago was using “man-made” wisdom or ideas to bring pagans into the church. Even two centuries past His crucifixion the church didn’t resemble the gatherings of believers that began the church in the late first century.
The divisions that have happened over the centuries since then show even more how easily Satan has gained a foothold in the church. There is a remnant of believers who embody the teachings of Jesus as much as possible today but it seems to be getting smaller. I pray that there will be a revival of faith in the church before He comes back. It is sorely needed today.
The Living Message of Christ 