by Wayne Everet Harris

     “What is missing?” asked the young woman.  “I have everything. What is keeping me from having peace.”

      Is a void inside people?  They do not know exactly what it is, but something is missing.  There is a yearning for something or someone. They do not know why or what it is.

     Is this yearning or emptiness a catalyst for philosophers?  They try to explain why to everything.   Many use philosophy to unearth the meaning of life while excluding the One who gives meaning to life.  The quest to fill the void begins.

     What is this missing thing?  I believe it is the void or emptiness only God can fill.  It is somewhat like the thing children who have never met their parents have.  Nothing can fill the void except that which they need.  They can try every relationship in the world.  The emptiness for the parent is still there.

     I had this emptiness for a long time.  Without totally realizing it I was searching for my Father in heaven.  Nothing and nobody in this world could fill the void.  No artificial anything could cover it up or soothe it.  I needed my Father.

     Until one hooks up with his or her real Father, the Lord God of heaven, the yearning will continue.  Until we join the family we need, the family of God, we can expect to be unfulfilled.  Money cannot fix it.  Drugs only make it worse.  Fame is only using glitz to decorate the emptiness.

     “I’m still not happy,” says the man without a relationship with his Father.  “I have it all.  Fame and fortune are mine.  Why do I feel like something is missing?”

      The world will tell us what we need to fulfill us.  “You need this.”  “This will change your life.”  It is one empty promise, one worthless advertisement, after another.

     The book with the answer is often ignored.  It is often gathering dust on the coffee table or in the hotel drawer.   The business person sits alone in the hotel room and wonders what is missing.  Inside the drawer, placed there by the Gideons in most cases, is the Word with the answer.
 

     How many hours can a person spend watching television before he or she realizes that television fills no voids.  Turn off the tube and in the silences the emptiness surfaces.  “There it is again,” says the person trying to deal with the silence. 

      Nothing overwhelms the yearning for home.  B.J. Thomas sang a song called “Home Where I Belong”.  They say that heaven’s pretty, and living here is, too, but if they said that I would have to choose between the two, I’m goin’ home, I’m goin’ home, where I belong.

      Many gospel singers sing songs about going home. They understand that home is where the Father is.  One song says, “Some call it heaven.  I call it home.” 

     Some are trying to deal with this yearning through spiritualism and occultism.  They are trying to fill the void with that which is counterfeit.  They may even get away with it to a degree until reality wallops them in the face.  

     What do you do when the doctor says, “You do not have long to live.”  When you know way deep down that what you have is counterfeit, how do you react?  Do you continue to pretend and miss heaven?

      Do you ignore the plan of God that is in place to get you home?  Do you ignore the fact that your real Father sacrificed His real Son on a cross of crucifixion to get you home?  Jesus has prepared a place for you in heaven.  It is a glorious place.  There is no emptiness there.

     The night I joined the family of God I said to God, “God, if You are real, please show me tonight.”  I was tired of yearning.  I had had enough of the emptiness.  I was starved for my Father’s love.  “If you are real show me.”

     I have not been the same since that night.  Jesus entered my heart.  The Holy Spirit flooded my soul.  My Father filled the void.  He is real.  Home is real.  Get there no matter what.
 

Your thoughts are important to me.  Send them to: wayne3222@att.net

Wayne Everett Harris