A Simple Truth: Why So Many People are So Unhappy

The Lord revealed to me today a very simple truth, and that is that no created human being on the planet can ever be completely fulfilled or satisfied without Jesus Christ. That is why so many people are so unhappy. Unhappy people do all the terrible things that people do in this world, whether it's robbing, killing, lying, cheating, deceiving, manipulating, hating, you name it. It is because there is something missing in their heart. And what they're missing is a relationship with God and God's Son, Jesus Christ. The first Commandment says, "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3). Think of all the idols or false gods people have. It might be their career, their family, their money, their possessions, their leisure time, their music, their art, their studies. You could go through the alphabet and list at least one for every letter, or you can find one from another letter for the more difficult words to find that start with letters U, X, and Z. All I could come up with were underwear, xylophones and zebras... I thought about "ubiquity," but didn't want to try to unravel it at this time--too deep for a brief write. a-acting, alcohol, anger, appearance, art, B-beauty, C-cars, cats, children, cooking, D-dancing, dogs, drugs, E-education, exercise, excitement, expertise, F-family, friends, G-gambling, games, grandchildren, H-hair, health, horses, horseracing, I-identity, J-jewelry, K-knowledge, L-literature, M-movies, music, N-negativity, O-opinions, P-partners, performance, politics, power, Q-quarreling, R-rituals, S-sex, skills, sports, T-talent, thrills, U-(fill in the blank), V-vacations, W-wealth, work, writing, X-(fill in the blank), Y-yesterday, Z-(fill in the blank). So, I have a couple of blank spaces, but I have some extras you can choose from. You can probably make your own list. There is nothing wrong with liking all these things, they are gifts from God. But we are to love the Creator more than we love the created things. You have probably all heard stories about people who "had it all," but they still felt empty inside. That is a classic example of what happens when any of the things I mentioned become the center of your life, your life itself. Anyway, this just got me thinking of all the things in the world that we all get into that are interesting and fun and rewarding, enjoyable, inspirational, even, but we neglect the actual purpose for our existence, or we decide for ourselves without the first thought about what God might have had in mind for creating us. Of course, it doesn't help that our culture has largely chosen to leave God out of every equation, and there is another reason for the chaos in the world. The point is that God created us for himself first, and I really love this verse: "He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works" (Psalm 33:15 KJV). The NKJV renders it, "He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works." It doesn't mean he makes us all the same. He has made us all different, he has made us all and he wants to have a relationship with us so we can "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12), "for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever, Amen" (Romans 11:36). "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). "They are of the world" therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them" (1 John 4:5). "We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error" (1 John 4:6). So, there is a little food for thought for me and for you that stems from a word I received from the Lord this morning at church. It's not original, it is not unique, it did not originate from my imagination, it is based on God's word, and I wanted to find some Bible references for this word. It's just something that we need to remind ourselves of from time to time, because we get so caught up in what's going on around us and we don't quiet ourselves down and we don't seek God as diligently sometimes as we should, and we all know that. I am also sure that if you look up this topic (or anything else the Lord may be speaking to you about), the Lord will lead you on a word study just between you and him. He just wants our attention, our hearts and minds, as Jesus said, he wants us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Luke 10:27). And that verse goes on to say, "and your neighbor as yourself." So there you have the teaching of Jesus in a nutshell. I hope you don't mind me quoting both from the KJV and the NKJV. I like to quote from the KJV sometimes because I love its elegance, and I don't have to capitalize "him" every time, but I know some people don't like the KJV. Other people don't like the NKJV. I like them both for different things. When I first became a believer I learned verses in the KJV and I still remember them in the KJV, but I also use the NKJV to study. I just wanted to share that word with you. I hope you got something out of it. I think there is definitely more to study along those lines, but in a way it kind of says it all, so now I really need to say goodnight. Goodnight.