God's Answer For An Empty Life

Text: John 3:1-5; Mark 10:17-22; Matthew 5:6

There is no doubt that at sometime in your life, you have experienced "emptiness:" a sense that something is missing in your life and you don't have true peace and joy.  Even when everything seemed fine on the outside and from an outsider's perspective you appeared to have it all together, you knew that on the inside your life lacked real meaning and you felt incomplete.  Everyone has these times of "emptiness."  The good news is that God has an answer for this feeling of emptiness and incompleteness.  I want to share with you four principles that relate to a person's empty feeling in their life.

1.  We Were Created To Have A Personal Relationship With God

No one can be truly satisfied unless the Lord is a primary part of their life!  But unfortunately many people ignore God's ability to fulfill the emptiness in their life and they try to fill it with money, prestige, accomplishments, drugs and alcohol, or sex.  But none of these offer deep lasting fulfillment and as a result people continue to search for that one person, event, or pleasure that will bring fulfillment, but they never find it.  It is only as we pursue God and not the world's pleasures that we will find lasting satisfaction.

2.  Reasons People Give For An Empty Life

The reasons people identify for having an empty life vary greatly.  But primarily they include:

• Not being successful
• Not having enough money
• Not married, or married to the "wrong person"
• Death of a spouse
• Divorce
• "Empty Nest" Syndrome--all the children are grown and have left home

There are many others.  But as important as these might be, they are not the reason for an empty life.  The cause of an empty life is much deeper than these issues.

3.  Consequences Of Emptiness

There are serious consequences when people begin to "focus" on the emptiness in their life, without first focusing on the only One who has the answer to their emptiness.  Often people begin to doubt God and His Word.  They begin to make wrong decisions today to get immediate fulfillment, forgetting about the consequences of tomorrow and they become disillusioned.  Remember it is only Jesus Christ who can fill the empty void in your life.

4.  Jesus Is The Answer For An Empty Life

Although the things of the world will offer a temporary relief to the void in your life, they can never fulfill it with an "everlasting" fulfillment.  To really find the completeness in your life you must allow God to give you fulfillment.  Three strategies for allowing God to fill the emptiness:

• Draw near to God--He wants you to have a loving and submissive relationship with Him.  We draw near through Bible study, prayer, meditating on His Word, spending time with God and through fellowship with other believers.
• Don't allow other priorities to crowd out your relationship with God.  We have to make sure God is always first!  It's too easy to pull away from God or scale back our commitment to Him.  Don't let that happen.  When you get too busy commitment and faithfulness to God is normally the first thing to go.
• Clear your life of activities and goals that distract you from pursuing a deepening relationship with God. Jesus told his disciple to store up their treasures in heaven and not on the earth.   What He was saying was that we shouldn't allow temporal possessions or pursuits to capture our heart, but allow God to capture it.

Everyone has times of emptiness in their life, but know this, God is ready to fill it!  Will you turn your feelings of incompleteness and emptiness over to Him today?  He's ready to make you whole again!

Buy Truth And Sell It Not

What you believe really does matter!  Many Christians don't really appreciate that statement nor do they really understand the importance of following the truth, but the truth matters!  You might have heard someone say "It's not doctrine that is important, but the way one lives that counts" or "It doesn't matter what one believes so long as they are sincere."  Such statements are foolishness, because someone can be sincere and yet be sincerely wrong!  The Bible clearly states that it does make a difference what one believes and teaches.  Here are three principles we must follow when it comes to the truth:

1.  We Are To Love The Truth

Whenever we possess the characteristics of a true Christian, we will have a strong love for what is true!  Jesus prayed for his disciples and said "sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth."  Truth can only be found in the Word of God.  Because God's Word is truth, it should be the desire of every Christian to give diligent study to the Bible so we can "rightly divide the Word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).  It is this love of the truth that is necessary for our salvation.  God wants all to have this love so that they might come to know and understand His will and be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).

2.  We Are To Uphold The Truth

If we love the truth we will not only be willing to live in harmony with it, but we will uphold and defend it.  The Apostle Paul repeatedly admonishes us to strive to uphold and maintain the truth (2 Timothy 1:13).  Paul told Timothy to "charge men to teach no other doctrine" (1 Timothy 1:3-4).  He also commanded Titus to sharply rebuke those who gave heed to commandments of men which turn from the truth (Titus 1:13-14).  According to James 5:19-20, some of the uses of God's Word includes to reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching to turn people to the truth.

3.  We Are To Reject That Which Is Not Truth

Paul told Timothy that "error" will eat as a "canker" or "gangrene,"  Those who say it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you live right are absolutely mistaken.  It is sad to say, but even the church is moving farther and farther away from teaching the truth.  It is only the truth of God's Word that has the ability to set us free.  If you want to be free, you must believe and follow the Truth!

What do you believe?  What truth are you following?  If it isn't based on the Word of God, be careful, because it may be based on error and it will eat at you like a canker!

Open Our Eyes

In 2 Kings 6 there is a wonderful account of God opening the eyes of Elisha's servant so he could see what was going on in the spiritual realm.  The Syrian army had completely surrounded Elisha and his servant, and when the servant went out the next morning, he was terrified when he saw this vast army surrounding them.  When he reported to Elisha what he saw, Elisha very calmly told him that "those who are with us are more than those who are with them."  Of course the servant didn't see it that way so Elisha prayed "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see."  And when the Lord opened the servant's eyes, he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.  We too need to have our eyes opened to the spiritual realm and there are three areas where we need to ask God to open our eyes.

1. We Need Our Eyes Opened To The Greatness Of God's Power

 Too often, we underestimate how great God is.  In Ephesians 1:18-19, the apostle Paul prayed that the "eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.  That power is like the working of his mighty strength."  It is God's power that is at work in us (Philippians 2:12-13).  And we have His promise that He will complete the work that He has begun in us (Hebrews 13:20-21).

2. We Need Our Eyes Opened To The Strength Of Our Weapons

The most effective weapon we have is the Word of God!  It has the power to change the hearts of men.  God's Word is a living, dynamic, and life changing force in our life.  Not only do we have God's Word, but we also have a spiritual armor to protect us from the attacks of the enemy.  We need to recognize the power of the whole of Christianity.  From the power of a risen Savior to the power of a changed life, we need our eyes opened to the strength of our weapons!

3.  We Need Open Our Eyes To The Victory We Have In God 


Remember, our weapons are mightier than the devil!  It is only through Christ that we can achieve the final victory.  It isn't within our own power and ability.  Because Christ overcame, we too can overcome.  We don't fight for the victory, but rather we fight from a position of victory!

Lord, open our eyes so that we can see things the way you see them.  Help us to see the greatness of your mighty power and the strength of our spiritual weapons and most of all help us to fight from victory because Christ has already been victorious!

Are you ready to have your eyes opened?  God's ready to open them!