In the Heart

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”—Ecclesiastes 4:11

God has made man to seek His face. Every single person who has ever lived has eternity placed within his or her heart, which is to say that we have an understanding of God. C.S. Lewis talks about this in his book, Mere Christianity. He writes that we have an intuitive understanding of right and wrong. Imagine standing in line at the bank when someone steps in front of you. Your first reaction is, “What are you doing? I was here first! You can’t just butt in front of someone. Get to the back of the line.” The question we must ask ourselves is, where does this innate sense of injustice come from? If there is no God, then there is no standard for perfection, love, justice, or mercy.

The great theologian, Augustine, once said, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You." We have a God-shaped hole in our hearts that can only be filled by God. Many men and women have vainly tried to fill that void with philosophy, pleasure, entertainment, alcohol, drugs, sex, hobbies, family, and every other good thing that can be perverted to turn the focus from God our creator to the creation.

We were made for a purpose, to give God glory (see Isaiah 43:7). We were made to know God, and He has placed it within our souls to do so. We will not find rest or peace until we entrust ourselves to Christ and believe in the good news of His life, death, burial and resurrection from the dead.

May God give us strength and clarity to recognize the God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each of us, and then may we come to Him, knowing that through faith in Him, it will be filled. Amen.