Listening to: “Jesus Messiah” by Chris Tomlin
Are you hoping fulfillment in life will come from the world, or from God?
If you’re a child of the world and have ever wondered why basic things like living life and being happy (“I just want to be happy—is that too much to ask?!”) are such a struggle, then know this:
The world—your friends, your family…your favorite food, your favorite sport…movies, television, music—will never fill you up for long. That’s why joy is fleeting. That’s why long-term consistency is so difficult to attain—because there is no true consistency in a world filled with chaos.
This is is why you’re always on the lookout for the next “thing,” hoping this or that will be what you needed, that the end result will be wholeness and fulfillment. But that fulfillment never lasts as long as you hope, and before long that sense of wholeness begins to dissolve.
Eventually, you’re left feeling incomplete again. And then it’s on to the next thing: the next group of friends, the next party, the next game, the next drink, the next date…whatever that worldly “thing” might be for you.
Here’s how the world wins out: You really and truly believe that this time will be different. You’ve done this a hundred times, but this time you just know it will be different! “I’ll go about it differently!” you say. “I’ll have control this time!”
That’s an illusion. You cannot control chaos. And if you continue to try and get fulfillment from the world, sooner or later you will discover her for the prostitute she is. She will take your livelihood, all that is honorable and commendable about you, and leave you diseased and distraught.
The world has no life-giving abilities. All it can do is drain you, leaving you broken and exhausted. But there is HOPE if you but put your trust in God instead of the world. The way to do this is by believing in the One He sent:
Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the Messiah, come to take away the sin of the world. You need not carry around shame any longer. You need not be a slave to your fleshly desires any longer. You need not be a slave to your sinful nature, to the lusts and desires that drive you, any longer. Jesus bought these things at a very high price—His Life. They belong to Him, so hand them over.
When you do, be prepared to receive gifts of joy and love and peace and fulfillment in return!
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He came into this world to show that we do not need the world—and yet, it is for this world that He suffered and died. “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son, that all who believed in Him might not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
It is true! This Good News of salvation is true, and it is Truth. Jesus died so that you—yes, you!—could have a joyful life and have it more abundantly. The enemy came only to kill, steal, and destroy. Our fleshly desires lead to him. But the Good News leads to a God of abundant JOY.
God is not a “religion.” He’s not rules or regulations or stipulations…He is LOVE, and all He wants is a relationship and for you to finally walk in the identity and purpose He created you for!
That’s right. He has a purpose for you. He made you for something special, something no one else in the whole world can do exactly the way you can do it. He created you uniquely. He made you to be His son, His daughter—you are not some happenstance. You were never an accident. You are a child of the King! Royalty in a Kingdom so majestic our flesh cannot fully comprehend its wonder.
To those who hear this message, I beg you: Give Jesus a chance. A real chance. Earnest prayer, Bible study, and Christian fellowship…if you surrender to Him in these ways for 40 days—just 40 days out of your whole life—if you wholeheartedly seek God through Christ Jesus, I guarantee you will see mountains in your life MOVE.
Seek and you will find. Honor God, and He will honor you. Be faithful in trying, and He will be faithful in answering.
He’s waiting for you to turn to Him, Child of the World. He wants to reveal Himself to you, to turn your world upside down until it’s in the wonderfully perfect order it was made to be in.
I can never escape from Your Spirit! I can never get away from Your Presence. If I go up to Heaven, You are there. If I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there Your Hand will guide me, and Your Strength will support me. Psalm 139:7-10
