My husband and I have a catch 22 going on; and I'm sure this represents about 80% of marriages in the U.S. The more he works, the more I spend and the more I spend, the more he works. So his addiction becomes work and my addiction becomes spending and each propels the other. It is of course a very sad cycle to be in, and contentment and love are most likely the solution.
I heard a funny quote once, "Blessed is the man who can make more than his wife can spend." But it actually isn't funny. Spending for women can almost be like an alcoholic going on a binge drinking day. Women spend to make themselves happy; to fill the void inside.
We all have a void, if we are honest enough to admit it. Some fill it with over eating, some with drinking too much, some with shopping, some with work, some with working out etc. We all have some addiction, something we do to compensate for the emptiness we all feel. Some fill it with religious addiction even and attending church every night etc.
Some say religion is a crutch, but we all have our own crutches. Religion and listening to sermons seems to be the healthiest one; because it causes the person to be nicer to others, usually. Or it might turn them into a self-righteous jerk who then points the finger at everyone else. It's hard to say really.
So what is your void filler? And why do you do it? Ever stop to think about why you do what you do? Instead of just doing it?
We all have this inner sadness and discontentment with life I think, which is understandable given the world we live in. The older we get, the more aware we become of it. We come to realize more and more that we are in a fallen world. Nothing is as it was supposed to be. We are not in the garden of Eden that we were created for. And so we try to busy ourselves in order to not think about how much the world sucks. We try to bury our heads in the sand with activity or addictions or "diversions", as someone I read once put it. The search is never ending for what will make us happy, but we never are happy. Why? Because that is just life.
Paul said, "To live is Christ and to die is gain." Why did he say that? Was he suicidal? No, he was just stating the truth. Because being alive is so hard, because our world is fallen, and if we are die, it is gain, because we no longer have to live with this ache. The ache of wondering what is wrong with the world, and what is wrong with ourselves and everyone else. We wonder why do we all seem broken? Why do we let each other down over and over again? To die means to not have to ask these questions anymore. For the Christian, death would be better than life because it means being with our Savior in eternal bliss, and leaving this broken and sad world behind finally.
But God keeps us alive for a reason, to fulfill the Great Commission and to spread the gospel. Nothing else in life matters, and nothing else will satisfy us. So go out and spread the word today! Write a blog, share Christ with a friend etc. Do something that actually means something with your time. Don't just eat another donut or drink another beer or buy another outfit. Do something that actually has eternal significance. Go be a blessing to someone else today and be a witness.
God bless! :)
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