Are You Looking in the Wrong Places?

In my younger days I was a running back on the football team. As I took the ball from the quarterback, I rushed through the hole created by the hog-mollies, first running past the defensive lineman, along the way stiff arming the outside linebacker before outrunning the safety who was chasing me down, finally crossing the goal line for a touchdown, all to the cheers of the home crowd. Now that was as good as it gets.

However, on the next offensive series I took the handoff and quickly came face to face with that same outside linebacker, coming at me faster than an out of control freight train, who drove his helmet through my chest, causing me to fumble the ball, only to see his teammate pick up the loose ball take it to the house for six points. But this time, instead of cheers, that same enthusiastic crowd was quick to express a different kind of noise; their vocal displeasure at my failure to hold onto the football. If I wasn’t on the football field then you could find me on the track, using my speed to try and outrun the other sprinters.

I have a speech impediment that left a void in my soul, one that in my youth, and even into early adulthood, I attempted to fill through athletic accomplishments. However, my football career ended prematurely due to a serious neck injury and several years after that I finally gave up on sprinting due to nagging lower leg issues. I felt like I was “left with nothing.” You might not have played football or run track, but I’m sure you had and have success in whatever you are talented at, and if you are honest, you’ll agree that none of that brings lasting contentment. No amount of fame or fortune can permanently fill what is intended to be filled by God.   

Not only is it fame and fortune, but also more stuff, washboard abs, larger breasts, more friends, the nicest car in the neighborhood, or the latest technology gadget, that we seek after to help us fill the void that is within us. Enjoying life and the trappings that comes along with it is not a bad thing. God wants us to enjoy life. In 1 Timothy 6:17, among other things, we are told that God “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” But Scripture also tells us that worldly “stuff” does not bring soul filling satisfaction that lasts a lifetime.

Scripture is filled with verses promising satisfaction to the discontented soul.

“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’” (John 6:35).

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things (Psalm 107:9).

C.S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity gives us this answer to why looking for happiness in places other than God is hopeless. Here is what Lewis says – “The reason it will never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering with religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”  

So, enjoy your success and your stuff for what is it intended, but look for and find permanent peace, joy, and happiness only in Jesus. He is your lasting and living water!

Stop looking in the wrong places and begin looking in the one place that offers just what you need.  

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