Life is hard. One thing after another hits you. You feel lonely. You feel lost. You feel like you're not enough. And then it repeats. Lonely. Lost. Inadequate. But something must break the cycle.
Right?
I for one am not willing to accept that it has to always to be that way. I’m a problem solver and I believe there’s always a way out. This gets me into trouble though. Faith isn’t just a step by step process. We may have basic instructions before leaving Earth (BIBLE), but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
I think feeling like you're not good enough is the number one requirement of being human. We all feel that way. And if you say you’ve never felt that, then you’re also a liar.
So if the number one requirement of being human is feeling inadequate, did Jesus, fully human and fully God, feel all those things?
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15 ESV)
Jesus felt those things, He heard the lies that the Enemy told Him, but He didn’t accept them as truth. The thing about it is, is that even though we have a God who knows our weaknesses and can relate to us on every level, we are inadequate. We’re inadequate to save ourselves. Only One was and is able to change that. But the lie that we’re not loved is more dangerous than the lie that we’re inadequate. Because in our inadequacies He loves us.
In the times when we’re feeling lonely and lost and the world seems to be against us, those lies that we tell ourselves that no one cares and no one loves us, He does. He understands what it feels like to have the Father look away from Him. When He took on the sins of the whole world, He was too evil to be looked on by the perfect Father, and so instead of us having to suffer the separation, He took it.
“...but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2 ESV)
Jesus took that so that we don’t have to be lonely anymore. We don’t have to be lost anymore. We get to be with Him, and it’s something I take for granted.
When we feel holes within us, we try and fill them. I try to fill those holes with people; with their attention, with their time, with the love I think they can give me. And while they can, it’s not enough, it will never be enough.
It’s hard for me this idea of holes. Growing up and having people describe to me what it looked like when we accepted Jesus into our heart. It usually looked something like: “When you pray to Jesus and ask Him to come into you heart He fills the Jesus size hole in your heart that you try to fill with other things.” Flashback over. So now that I have Jesus, why do I still feel empty sometimes?
Because, truthfully I'm still missing Him. Yes, giving your life to Christ is a one and done deal. But having Him be a part of your all day everyday for the rest of your life takes an active, consistent commitment that restarts every day.
The great news is that we get to ask Him to be a part of our lives, but the even better part is that it’s not just for a lifetime, it’s for the rest of eternity.
