God Shaped Hole
Dear Champions,
The short excerpt is from Tim Keller, and the scripture is Romans 1:25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is for ever praised.
Cynthia Hymal used to write for the Village Voice, and she lived in New York City for many years and got to know a lot of people when they were struggling artists, actors and actresses. Afterwards some of these people would hit it big and become celebrities, so she knew a lot of people before and after. Here's what she says about celebrities. "I pity celebrities, I really do. Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Barbara Striestand were once perfectly pleasant human beings. But now their wrath is awful. I think when God wants to play a really rotten little joke on you, He grants you your deepest wish and giggles merrily when you want to kill yourself. You see, Sly, Bruce and Barbara wanted fame. They worked, they pushed, and the morning after each of them became famous, they wanted to take an overdose. That giant thing that they were striving for, that famed thing that was going to make everything okay and their lives bearable, that was going to provide them with personal fulfillment and happiness had happened, and they were still them. The disillusionment turned them howling and insufferable."
What Cynthia Hymal is saying is right-not about God playing a rotten, dirty trick on you. Certainly she is right in saying that the worst thing that God can do to you is to give you the desires of your heart (Romans 1:24-32 addresses this). Very few of us get the ultimate success, but the few who do are absolutely appalled. There is an awful lot of dysfunction and unhappiness amongst the very elite, and there are all sorts of studies that prove it. The few of us who do make it to the very top suddenly see something that it is appalling. There is something so wrong with the human soul, there is a vacuum so big that you can put in 3 million dollars, 10 million dollars, you can become the biggest star and celebrity in the world, and you still aren't going to be happy. It still won't fulfill you! It won't be enough! When you realize that, you begin to say, "What in the world will ever satisfy me?" The Bible says that the hole is God shaped and only He can fill it.
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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