There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man
which cannot be filled by any created thing,
but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.
-Blaise Pascal
Not feeling fulfilled?
The beloved and time-worn expression “God-shaped vacuum” gives the impression a human is like a five-jillion-piece jigsaw you spread out on the kitchen table and work on for weeks.
Have you ever started on one and realized part way through a critical piece of the puzzle had fallen under the table? The solution for our lives might seem as simple as finding the missing God-piece, so we can finish the picture and put it all away.
There, that’s done; now on with our lives.
But it’s not that simple, is it?
The void inside us isn’t just a blank space in the broad picture of our lives.
It’s an ever-expanding universe, growing until He has filled every inch of us.
When we invite Him into our hearts, He is glad to take up residence there. But He is not a human, who can be contained in the pretty guest room. Like a golden oil, His Spirit flows through every crevice of our lives, opening us up for inspection.
Soon He has flowed under the locked door of our thought life, taking things out of the closet we hoped no one would discover. We’re offended until we remember that He lives here.
Actually, He owns the place.
He wants it all.
And He bought it all, so it’s all His. Deep inside, we know that’s what we really long for, too.
Filling that God-shaped hole inside us is a life-long process in which God gently challenges and inhabits every corner of our being, until we are permeated through and through with Him.
God delights in filling our nothingness with His amazing universe of discovery.
It’s a strangely beautiful trip. The more I have of God, the more I thirst and hunger for Him. The more I understand, the less I know. The more I am emptied, the more I am satisfied. A thousand lifetimes could not contain all God has of offer His sons and daughters. That’s why, I guess, we need an eternity with Him.
The “missing piece”?
Really?
Who wants to end there?
For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father,
…that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints.
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and the know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
that you may be filled up to the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:14-19 NASB
