What is that feeling?

Do you wonder what that feeling is? Maybe you’d say it’s more like a longing or perhaps you might call it a pit in your stomach or something that is nagging at you?

It’s the feeling of never being satisfied, of needing more and trying new methods to get there. In my teenage years, I would describe it as a lack of fulfillment, never feeling good enough, thinking the next thing or the next relationship would finally make me happy.

This fulfillment never happened.

In my 20’s and 30’s it was more of a striving to succeed or to make sure people thought highly of me; it was a longing for everyone to think I was good, and then I could stop.

This striving never ceased.

Now in my 40’s it feels more like disappointment or even resignation that things just aren’t gonna get better or ever “feel” better deep inside.

This disappointment still lingers.

All of these feelings, by the way, I’ve experienced while living a really great life in very comfortable circumstances with absolutely wonderful family & friends around me.

So what is it that perpetuates this lack of satisfaction?

As the writer of Hebrews helps us understand, it’s that we “desire a better country… a heavenly one.” Jesus tells us in John 15:19, “you are not of the world.” We read in Philippians 3:20 that “our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

We feel out of place here because we are. We aren’t made for the world or for fulfillment from earthly things. We are made to be fulfilled by heavenly things. We are here passing through. We are made for something more: “God has set eternity in the hearts of people.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

This is why it’s important for us to be connected to God, our Heavenly Father. He is our home. He is our shelter, our purpose, our foundation, and the author of our lives.

Don’t settle for letting your life be defined by the lack of fulfillment, the striving or the disappointment you feel. Those are temporary. God and His Word are eternal. Keep your eyes on Him. Saturate yourself in scripture. Cover these temporary feelings with God’s everlasting Word and truth!