Ministry Resources

Feelings of Emptiness

What is it that makes us feels empty?  Why does there always seem to be a craving for something more? For another experience? Another thrill? Another place to visit? Another person in our lives? Something more than we already have? Some addition rather than a subtraction? Why do we always seem to set our hearts on something else that we do not have, hoping that this new possession will fill the emptiness inside?

SEARCHING FOR MORE

We compare ourselves with others. We long for what others have. We feel frustrated when we cannot have it. This is a pattern begun in early childhood but is often hard to shake off in later life. We look at what someone else has achieved. The awards they have received and the community recognition, and we feel like we have come up short. We ask ourselves questions, “Why wasn’t it me?” “Didn’t I deserve it as much as her?” “Why are they the privileged one?”

Or maybe we have gotten more than we ever dreamed. Everyone thinks we have achieved success and recognition. But in our souls, deep within, we sense something is not right, something is missing. The search for satisfaction often comes at the expense of others. People often, in their search for satisfaction and importance are willing to do anything and go anywhere to find that special treasure, that silver bullet. It is a treasure that becomes a consuming desire in their minds and hearts.

FULLNESS AT THE EXPENSE OF OTHERS

To get what they long for, some are willing to commit crimes and hurt others. People sin and are sinned against in this never-ending obsession for a full life.

Marriages are ruined and families are torn apart as people seek out passing pleasures to fill an inner void. Relationships are destroyed as people put their own “needs” above the true needs of others. Children suffer from lack of parental guidance from selfish seeking for fulfillment. All kinds of social ills are caused by the cravings of perceived empty souls.

Jesus spoke directly to this problem, He said, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:26 NIV).

Another version of the Bible reads, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” (NLT).

EMPTINESS AND ETERNITY

Emptiness within arises in our souls when we lose our focus. We look downward at what lies before us in our everyday experience. We fail to look up to our God in heaven, who alone can fill the emptiness of our soul.

The prophet Jeremiah spoke of such people, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, Broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13 NIV) In our feelings of emptiness, we compare what we possess with what we think is lacking. We fail to keep God in our thoughts. Our yearnings have long ago blocked Him out. We think of the temporal rather than the eternal.

The Bible says that we are made by God to live forever. When the life in this body is over, we will face an eternity. We will live eternally either in the presence of an almighty and all-loving God or we will lose our soul by living out an eternity separated from the God who made us.

Jesus tells us that our souls are precious. They are made to live forever. Absolutely nothing has more worth than our souls. We must prioritize preparing for the life we will have after this life is over. Jesus warns us that we must have the right focus. We must have the right desires. We must abandon building our lives on the temporal, and construct our lives on the eternal. He warns us that we can accumulate all the wealth of this world, and find ourselves unprepared to meet our God.

FIND MEANING AGAIN

Only God himself can fill the emptiness of our souls with meaning. He made us, and our souls long to be filled with the knowledge of Him. It is in knowing God, as He has revealed himself to us in the Word of God that life goes from emptiness to fullness of life. Jesus came to give us eternal life. He is eternal life. We find this life as we find ourselves in Him. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).  There is nowhere else to find abundant eternal life except in the Son of God.

We must come to Jesus and submit to Him. We must admit that without Him we have nothing.  We must put our entire hope in Him. It is then that emptiness will flee, for we have found the spring of living water that quenches the thirst of our souls. The end to emptiness begins in accepting the gospel (good news) from God.

The Bible tells us that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. The Word of God says that three days later He arose from the dead. His death and resurrection set us free from sin and death. We must put our entire trust in Jesus, and begin to follow Him.

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