More than 300 years ago, French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal identified the human spirit’s main problem. He called it the “infinite abyss,” and said it can be filled “only by God himself."
 
Pascal was right: life doesn’t work apart from God. It’s not supposed to. He created us for Himself, after all. If we are not walking with Him day in, day out, we are missing our very reason for being.  
 
Until we realize this, our lives can be empty -- or miserable.
 
We may hide it well, even from ourselves, by worshipping idols of our own making.
 
For some of us, that means working long hours, trying to prove our worth through the praises of employers or clients or through steadily growing bank accounts.
 
Others may drown their troubles in alcohol or drugs, or obsess over relationships, especially those involving romantic love.  
 
Then there are those who live for entertainment. That might mean a non-stop merry-go-round of theater, ballet, symphony, films, and literature. It might mean parties galore, or dinner with different friends every night, or Ph.D.-level study of professional or college sports (or both). It might mean traveling to increasingly exotic locales, or reveling in nature, music, art or pets.
 
And don’t forget those who are consumed with health or gastronomy. They may interrogate everything that passes the lips, or shop and cook artfully and extravagantly. (Was the apostle Paul including such folks when he wrote of those whose “god is their belly” in Philippians 3:19?)
 
I’ve only scratched the surface, of course. Turn this way and you’ll see people indulging in frenzies of home remodeling; that way, and you’ll find jam-packed clothes closets larger than most living rooms or gardens filled with small fortunes in exotic plants or kids playing endless video games. 
 
Anything to fill the void.
 
And still, nothing on this earth really satisfies. Nothing comes close to freeing us from Pascal’s “infinite abyss.”
 
I know whereof I write, having pursued some of these idols myself in the decades before Jesus Christ transformed my heart and my life.
 
The good news is that He’s willing to transform anyone's. We need only seek God; He has promised that, if we do, we will find Him.
 
“And you will seek Me and find Me,” He said through His prophet Jeremiah (29:13), “when you search for Me with all your heart.”
 
When we do this, we can kiss our idols goodbye.
 
Are you ready to find Him? There's no better place to start than the Bible. ​

One of the most wonderful things about being a born-again Christian is the absolute certainty that eternal joy is just around the bend—and that in heaven, we will be reunited with all our beloved believers who’ve gone on ahead.  Here’s what two elderly Christian friends had to say to each other as they faced an imminent, albeit temporary, separation. 
 
They sat in companionable silence for a while, letting their minds drift.
         
Finally, Sadie reached out and took her friend’s hands in her own.
         
“Beulah, my dear, I just wanted to say that you have become my dearest friend in these last few months, and I’m so grateful for you.” She swallowed hard; somehow she hadn’t imagined this as being a difficult monologue. “Will you please remember that?”
         
Beulah’s eyes were wide with surprise.
         
“Sadie Sparrow, are you trying to tell me something? Are you going on ahead?”
         
“I think so,” Sadie said, smiling tenderly at her friend. “I think it will be soon. I feel it in my bones, as my mother used to say.”
         
Beulah squeezed her hands. “Well, that’s just fine, Sadie. I will miss you, but it will only be for a little while.”
         
“That’s right, Beulah. Just a short time, in light of eternity.”
         
They smiled at each other, not attempting to hide the tears in their eyes.
         
“Sadie,” Beulah said finally, “once you’ve had a chance to see Ed and your folks and everyone, would you do me a favor? Find my Norbert, and tell him that I’ll be with him just as soon as I can. And tell him that Bunny’s wonderful. Will you do that for me?”
 
--From The Song of Sadie Sparrow, pages 167-168