Are you tired of all the bad news?

Interviewing Atty. F. Lee Bailey 1989

Sometimes I miss my days of being a newspaper reporter–reading three daily papers and chasing after big stories (like interviewing F. Lee Bailey, attorney for such notorious defendants as the Boston Strangler, O.J. Simpson, and Dr. Sam Sheppard, a.k.a. “The Fugitive.”).

But most of the time nowadays I don’t even want to hear much of the news.

Devastating wars, the constant threat of terrorism, political unrest,  severe weather disasters, so much hate, and too many friends and relatives battling illnesses.

Life is not only hard; it’s downright unfair, as some people seem to have more than their share of trouble. You or your loved one might even be one of those people.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we lived in a world where everything was fair, people didn’t get sick and sad things didn’t happen? That would be a great place to call “home.”

Did you ever wonder why there’s such a longing in each of us for just such a place? It’s a longing for home, you know.  A longing for our real home. You see, we weren’t created to live in Pennsylvania or New York or anywhere else on the face of this planet. We were created for our real home…Heaven.

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

The Bible describes Heaven as the place where God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.” (Revelation 21:14)

And why won’t there be any more tears or death or pain? Not because we’ll have all the money we ever wanted. Or all the success. Or all the beauty. Or any other tangible item.

It’s because we’ll have God Himself.

“Look! God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them and they will be his people.” (Revelation 21:13)

We’ll have what we always really needed to be whole—the constant presence of God Himself.

The great 17^th-century philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal wrote that we all have a “God-shaped vacuum” inside. There’s a hole, so to speak, in our souls that leaves us longing for something more than this world has to offer.

God has “planted eternity in the human heart” the writer of Ecclesiastes tells us.

God knows only He can fill that hole of longing even though we try to fill it ourselves. Some of us try to fill it by buying “stuff” or with relationships or with work or sports or with learning or religious rituals. Some even try things like food or sex or drugs or alcohol. But none of these can fill the God-shaped vacuum in us…instead they only make it bigger.

The only thing that fills that hole and makes us whole is when God fills it with Himself by putting His very Spirit inside us. And when God’s Spirit lives in us, we discover our purpose for living.

It’s really quite simple…Do you know what it is?

We were created to praise God.

That’s right. We find true joy, true fulfillment, when we realize there’s Someone bigger than us. Someone greater than us. Someone worthy of every bit of praise we can give.

If you’ve not really had praise for God well up in your heart lately (or ever!), I pray that you will today.

And if you’re still trying to fill that God-shaped vacuum with other things, I pray you’ll allow God to fill you with Himself and satisfy that longing for your real Home

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Open in your browser to hear “Indescribable” by Chris Tomlin and please sing along–out loud or in your heart.

And here’s a bonus video of Chris singing about “Home.”