Ephesians 2: 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
In light of this verse, I have a question for Christians who tell sinners that they have a "God-shaped hole in their heart that only Jesus can fill". And only until they fill this hole by "accepting Jesus", they will never be satisfied.
Doesn't this verse say otherwise? Paul says that prior to conversion, we were actually satisfied because we filled that "hole in our heart' with what we truly loved and desired...sin. Before God changed our hearts, we were fine without Jesus...we had ourselves and all the desires of our flesh to please.
I'm just not sure if we're being completely honest when we tell unregenerate people that the Bible says we are sinful by nature and in love with our sin then turnaround and say that Jesus is the only one that can really satisfy us.
I'm just sayin'...
In light of this verse, I have a question for Christians who tell sinners that they have a "God-shaped hole in their heart that only Jesus can fill". And only until they fill this hole by "accepting Jesus", they will never be satisfied.
Doesn't this verse say otherwise? Paul says that prior to conversion, we were actually satisfied because we filled that "hole in our heart' with what we truly loved and desired...sin. Before God changed our hearts, we were fine without Jesus...we had ourselves and all the desires of our flesh to please.
I'm just not sure if we're being completely honest when we tell unregenerate people that the Bible says we are sinful by nature and in love with our sin then turnaround and say that Jesus is the only one that can really satisfy us.
I'm just sayin'...
2 comments:
If this were true: "{we are}satisfied because we filled that "hole in our heart' with what we truly loved and desired...sin." Then why would we ever seek God? Why do we have worries and grief?
I agree that the saying "God-shaped hole in their heart that only Jesus can fill" doesn't make sense to some, because, well, our heart is a muscle and if it has a hole in it then we have other problems at hand.
However, remember we are cursed to die in our sin. Our sin brings only temporary satisfaction; maybe happiness, but, no joy. We were never fine without Jesus. We live a life of sin trying to replace Him but ultimately fail at every turn.
When we present the gospel to an unbeliever, the command to repent and believe should be driven from the need to be reconciled to God and have their sins forgiven.
Joy and happiness are definitely fruit of the Spirit but the gospel shouldn't be presented in a therapeutic way that will rid our life of worries and grief and give us true love, joy, peace, etc. This is no different than a prosperity/humanistic gospel that simply puts the focus on what the person can get out of the message.
I do agree that only Christ, in a temporary and eternal sense, truly satisfies the soul but in the context of evangelism, we are to tell sinners that their biggest problem is that God’s wrath abides on them but the good news is that we can find refuge through Christ's life, death, and resurrection. This is the true motive, and not a satisfied life, that should drive a sinner to the cross.
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