WHO OR WHAT'S GOT YOUR HEART?

The lyrics of a song from a few years back read: "There's a God-shaped hole in all of us, and a restless souls is searching. There's a God-shaped hole in all of us, and it's a void, that only You can fill."

The human heart was created to worship. One way or another, it finds something or someone to ascribe worship to. This fact is as certain as it is of a flute that is created to make music, or of a candle that is created to provide light. Of course, just because a candle was created to provide light, does not mean that it cannot be used for another purpose. It can decorate a birthday cake. It can be used in the preparation of an addict's drug fix. It can be used in the destructive act of arson. The possibilities are many, but they do not alter the fact that the candle was first and foremost created to illuminate its surroundings.

The human heart was formed to experience the love of its Creator and to respond to that love in worship. In worshiping the Creator of all things, the human heart finds peace and contentment. It is like a pilgrim returning to a home he has missed dearly after a long and arduous journey. If we fail to direct our worship towards God, the desire and tendency of the heart to do what it was created to do, remains. The human being will find something or someone to worship. If God is not on the throne of our hearts and if His light does not illuminate its chambers, then in the greyness and darkness of his absence lesser idols and trinkets will stubbornly and arrogantly fight to take His rightful place.

This is the essence of idolatry. No matter how noble or ignoble the alternative, it is adoration and devotion directed at something infinitely lesser in power, beauty and worth than the God who reigns supreme in all these areas and more. This idolatry may take the form of an obsession over work. Perhaps an addiction. It could be a proud refuge taken in intellectualism and philosophy. It may be the fanatic devotion to exercise or sport, the starry-eyed wonder over the charms of a lover, the insatiable appetite for adrenalin, food, drink, sex...the list goes on and on.

Darkness has no characteristic of its own. It is defined by the absence of light. It remains empty and void until light enters or emerges. So it is with the heart that fails to direct worship toward God. In His absence, an emptiness remains and the starving heart is left clamoring after the attention of idols that are all too willing to offer themselves as substitute objects of its affection. It is the condition of a wandering heart always missing and longing for home. It a longing that can only be satisfied by the Creator of all things. It is a God-shaped hole that God alone is able to fill.
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Grant Alexander Cyster owns the blog entitled "I THINK, THEREFORE I ACHE.", offered as part of his Cape Town based freelance media business at: www.grantcyster.com