Filling God sized voids is like Band-Aids fixing bullet hole.

By Laura Steager

Introduction… This analogy sums up what humans do when

they do not have Christ fully at the center of their lives.

We try and fill those voids with whatever we can get our hands on

We end up not feeling whole, so when this happens we search for new ways to try and fill the void

How it started… When Adam and Eve choose to listen a follow

what the serpent said in Genesis, they allowed sin to enter the world.

Since we are now all born with sin, it starts to eat away at us and creates the void which only God can fill. Then as we grow up, we try and fill the void with other things than God.

Have the band-aids changed?

Over the years the “band-aids” have, for the most part, stayed the same. But for some of the band-aids they have gotten worse. Like drugs. There are different combinations.

We have also gotten newer technology. Therefore, the avenues to getting all different types of fillers has gotten easier.

How does it impact us? In American culture, we are faced with views and

values that push us against the Christian faith.

The media and our interactions with people effect us in all different ways. The media makes sin look like fun and that it is okay to do. And depending on the kinds of friends we have and how we act with them, those personalities tend to come out in our actions and how we conduct our lives.

ComputersReligion

TV

Male/Female relationships

Alcohol

Money

Drugs

Examples… Those were just some examples of band-aids

that people use.

People like to use band-aids as a way of justifying their actions to help them feel better.

No matter what the situation is they try and find away to justify it to themselves.

Need to justify our actions… We use phrases from Benjamin Franklin’s book,

Poor Richard’s Almanac to help us.

Phrases like: “God helps them that help themselves.”

People think that phrases like the example come from the Bible so that makes it better but in reality it does not come from the Bible.

Need to justify our actions… People think that if it is moral then it must come

from the Bible.

Just because it is moral does not mean that it come from the Bible. Or vis versa

Just because the Bible says in Ephesians “Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ” (ESV) does it make slavery right.

Need to justify our actions… Once people started to express themselves

more, things became more open and free-spirited

The 60s were full of hippies promoting love and peace. Yes, peace is good we all need to love each other.

But when you do not follow the Bible’s plan for love then it leaves you feeling empty and so you search for it more.

Need to justify our actions…

When the internet really took off in the early 90s this opened a whole new way to fill in the void. People could stay at home and not have to go out and find things.

People could, with a click of a button, get porn and other “band-aids” to try and fill the void.

Need to justify our actions…

One of the big fillers of the void is money. People think that the more money they have the happier they will be.

As it says in 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith…” (ESV)

Need to justify our actions…

Our society and culture depend on money so much that everywhere we look we are told to work more to make more.

“I will tell you the secret to getting rich on Wall Street. You try to be greedy when others are fearful. And you try to be fearful when others are greedy.” –Warren Buffett (Forbes)

It does not matter where we look for advice we just need to make sure that it is true advice.

Conclusion… In conclusion, the only way to fill the God sized

voids in our lives is to full commit to God’s will. It is hard but in the end it is all worth it.

God is the only filler that will truly make us whole.

Work cited Crossway Publishing. The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton:

Crossway, 2008. Book. Forbes. n.d. Web. 09 Nov 2015.

<http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertberger/2014/04/30/top-100-money-quotes-of-all-time/>.

Franklin, Benjamin. "Poor Rochard's almanack." Franklin, Benjamin. Poor Rochard's almanack. Philadelphia, 1759. 23. Book.

Swift, Taylor. Bad Blood. n.d. 8 Nov 2015. <http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/taylorswift/badblood.html>.