Longing to Fill a Void
The Seeker and Her Emptiness
Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)
"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness."
The things we seek and the things we grasp to sustain us can define who we are and show us what's missing in our lives. To long for something is to yearn from a place of lacking, to want from a place of desire. Desires are necessary; they're what give our lives purpose, and they fuel us to seek after material things, love, power, autonomy, and, inadvertently, ourselves. We look for things that can comfort us, quench a burning thirst, love us, see us, prove to us that we are worth it. We give it power to fill us, in hopes that it will fill the void, but how can it fill us if the thing we truly long for is within ourselves?
Let's take a look at Sandra, a smart girl in her early 20s with a life story that ages her to a late 30’s wise woman who has had life's fair share of lessons. Lessons on loss, relationships, achievement, decisions and God. She would say that the one thing she spent the majority of her life seeking to fill her void was the thing that emptied her the most. That thing is unconditional love. A love without bounds, a selfless love, a love without expectation. To her, this meant romantic relationships that could validate her and provide comfort. It is no issue to seek love, but when that love is the only source you rely on, that's the problem. After a series of being the unrequited lover and the unrequited beloved, her void expanded to consume her. There was nothing that could satisfy her until she allowed Jesus to.
You can waste a lifetime seeking after things that can't be found with emptiness as your fuel. There is nothing outside of you that can fill a void that is within yourself. Sandra had to learn that the only person who can love her unconditionally is Jesus Christ because he is love. She had to learn that you cannot expect to be loved unconditionally if you don't even love yourself.
Everything we seek is birthed from a place of lack; pay attention to what gives your ‘seeking after’ life.
Resources
The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV)
