Filling the empty spot inside.
by Tami Rudkin
We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14, NIV).
We are spiritual people.
There is no use denying it. If you are one of those people who have never really believed this, give it up. Each of us have this place, deep within our souls, that was perfectly designed and measured to fit the Spirit of God.
You may have never been able to put your finger on that gap, that empty feeling, that sense of missing something; but that’s it — the place Jesus came to dwell in, to make you whole and complete and satisfied. And He is the one and only thing, person, or belief that can meet the needs of your spiritual entity.
Different messages
We are being told something different today. At every newsstand you can pick up a magazine filled with ideas about how to help yourself to happiness. Between those covers we read articles that spout a religion teaching everything from self-sacrifice to self-indulgence. TV opportunists advertise 900 numbers so that you may call your own psychic, who can tell you about your future.
There are astrologists star-gazing and informing you of things to come. There are meditating gurus emptying themselves and preaching that you, too, can become a god. And perhaps saddest of all, there are men and women dressed in the guise of Christianity, stripping you of all desire for an intimate walk with Jesus Christ.
Vulnerability
At different stages in our lives we try different things, attempting to fill that inner void. We push, we stuff, we cut, we stab — and to no avail: The things of this world will not fit that one place God came to pervade.
But we continue to listen to the modern voices of our time, don’t we? A little curiosity, a little emptiness, and a little hope makes for a vulnerable people open to any kind of nonsense. If you don’t try to occupy your personal void with religious ideas, maybe these sound familiar: physical prowess, relational fulfillment, public adulation, monetary success.
Absolute truth
In a society tolerant of every person’s idea or philosophy, how do we wade through all the muck and gunk to find the one-and-only way, the absolute truth, the pure grace we all so desperately long for? It seems our hearts are so believing and our minds so confused that almost anyone or anything can take control. That’s why Jesus is so right . . . so truth . . . so Lord.
He is not a god of confusion but of order.
He is not a god of control but of freedom.
He is not a god of popular beliefs but of eternal truth.
He is not a god of just the mind or just the body or just the heart, but also of the soul.
Intimate encounter
And it is there, in the soul, we encounter Him. In the quietness of our spirit we can know Him. When all else has proven heresy and is wiped away, when nothing else is vying for our complete attention, we can bow to the only One worthy of our praise, the only One worthy of our spiritual applause, the only One worthy of our souls.
In our minds we understand the truth; in our hearts we bask in His love. But in our spirits we worship the One and Only. In our souls we recognize authentic righteousness and that it comes only from Him. In our souls we realize the pure and that it comes only from Him. In our souls we comprehend the once-unavailable truth and that it comes only from Him. In our souls we understand the undiluted, ever-available grace and that it comes only from Him.
Yes, it is the soul — the very spirit of a person — that witnesses to the One and Only. We can know Him, love Him, worship Him, when we choose to unfetter ourselves of all the untruth we have been programmed to believe. In the solitude of our God-created spirits, we bow in adoration. And as we kneel, the glory of Him who came from the Father, the One and Only, full of grace and truth, will wash over us like a rushing spring waterfall . . . cleansing us, changing us, and empowering us.
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