How often do we hear sayings like “go with your gut” or “follow your heart” in our culture today? We grow up thinking that our heart is our compass, meant to lead us toward love or happiness. But how often do the choices we make based on our gut feelings or the desires of our heart lead us astray? For most of us, the answer is often – because Jesus says that our hearts are “deceitful above all things” (Jer 17:9).
We’re most motivated by our desires. God created us to desire Him and to be loved by Him. However, we’re flawed and sinful so our desire for God and need for love turns into desires for other things that makes us feel momentarily fulfilled or loved. Our culture tells us that temporary pleasure is enough to satisfy, but the Bible tells us that God has “put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecc 3:11). Some have called this our God-shaped hole and we know that only Jesus can permanently fill it.
It’s hard for believers to find true fulfillment in Christ because a life of faith isn’t easy. We have hope in perfect joy for eternity, but for now we can only catch a glimpse. Unfortunately, the things of this world can seem more real than Jesus. They are here right now and we tend to be settlers – we settle for the quick fix of another drink, another relationship or more material possessions. These things fulfill us temporarily, but leave us empty time after time.
How does God fulfill us? Romans 5:1-5 says this: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” We have fulfillment through Christ – He gives us access to the Father. With Christ, we can rejoice in our earthly suffering because we have hope for eternal joy; and this hope will never disappoint us.
The world offers us immediate satisfaction that disappears as quickly as it comes. But God offers us eternal life, joy and peace, which we can begin to experience now through a relationship with Jesus. Where do you find your joy? Have you believed the lies of the world that tell us we can find fulfillment apart from God? If so, it’s not too late to repent and be satisfied in Jesus once again.