My Journey

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person,

and it can never be filled by any created thing.

It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ.”

Blaise Pascal

Pensees 1670

 

I was brought up by very good, moral parents. We went to church at Christmas and Easter, but didn’t discuss the Christian faith, the Bible, or what we believed.

When I was young I would tag along with any neighbors or friends who would let me go to church with them. Thus began a rather solitary search for God through many different denominations. When I was old enough to drive I began attending a church regularly and I believed in, prayed to, and worshiped Jesus, but knew nothing of having a personal relationship with Him.

I set high expectations for myself, and when I failed to live up to them in my youth and early twenties they drove me into depression. While I knew that God brought me through those periods, my theology was faulty and my faith was still in my head.

“Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name,

He gave the right to become children of God”

John 1:12

When I was in my early thirties, a neighbor who had a heart for women to study the Word together, asked me to host a Bible study that she would lead in my home each week. Still struggling with unresolved issues and searching for answers I was delighted with the opportunity. As I studied, and she discipled me, I began to finally understand I was not just someone who failed or sinned occasionally, I was a sinner in need of a Savior. I had spent my life trying to be good enough, but Jesus accepted and loved me just as I was ― enough to die for me. It was all about what He had done and not about my efforts. I didn’t have to wait until heaven to experience Him. He could be Lord of my life right then. Believing in Jesus had been my religion, now receiving Him in my heart brought relationship and a life forever changed.

 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;

the old has gone, the new has come!”

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

 

It has been said that everyone has a God-shaped hole in their heart and they will fill it. With what is the question? People may fill it with any number of things other than God; financial pursuits, alcohol, promiscuity, addictions, vanity, fame, power, education, jobs, etc. Many will also fill it with false spiritual doctrines. When we are not familiar with what the Word says, it is easy to fall for deceptive teachings.

Christians are not immune from the trials, diseases, or the challenging events of life that everyone faces. But we have a friend who loves us and walks through them with us. Those 18 inches between our head and our heart can be the longest journey we will ever travel but it is the most crucial one. The goal of every believer should be a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, not just in our heads, but in our hearts.