Empty Pursuits

My wife, Cathe, likes Indian food. During some of her childhood she lived in Malaysia, where she ate all kinds of exotic Asian and Indian food.

I, on the other hand, don’t really like Indian food. I grew up in Southern California, where I ate hamburgers and French fries. I also ate TV dinners. I don’t know whether you could actually call TV dinners from the 1950s and 1960s food, but that is what I ate.

So when I go to an Indian restaurant with Cathe every now and then, I’ll order some rice, bread, and something with chicken. And all I know is that afterward I’m still hungry and want something to fill my stomach. It just doesn’t leave me satisfied.

In the same way, we can chase after all the things the world says will satisfy us. But in reality, it will leave us empty. And we can learn this the hard way or the easier way.

Let me appeal for a moment to those who are still young: Don’t find this out the hard way. I know people who have wasted decades of their lives figuring this out the hard way. Figure it out at an early age. You don’t have to waste years of your life.

Those of us who are older know a few things because we’ve lived life. And I can tell you this: you can miss a lot of misery. At the ripe old age of seventeen, I started on a course that I’m still on today. And I’ve never regretted being on this path of following Christ. Not once.

Chasing after other things won’t satisfy you, but Christ will. He is the Bread of Life that will satisfy your spiritual hunger. He is the Living Water that will satisfy your spiritual thirst.