In our world today there is a fundamental belief that if we can only provide people with more education and improve the environment that mankind lives in through passing better laws, making streets safer to walk, and ensuring everyone on the planet gets three good meals a day, that not only will the heart of man be content, but happiness will be available to all. While all of these changes are great they fail to address the central issue with the human race and that is man is dead in his sins. And unless he gets a brand new heart through spiritual surgery, he will never find true contentment, will always feel incomplete, and sadly will live an unfulfilled life.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones stated mankind’s problems well when he shared: “The terrible, tragic fallacy of the last hundred years has been to think that all man’s troubles are due to his environment, and that to change the man you have nothing to do but change his environment. That is a tragic fallacy. It overlooks the fact that it was in Paradise that man fell.”1
He also went on to add: “According to Scripture, the trouble with man by nature is not that he is incomplete but that he is dead.”2 Since we are all born dead in our sins and trespasses we are incapable of changing our fundamental sin nature on our own. Thankfully Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary and in becoming our sin sacrifice we now can experience a whole new dimension of life where, no matter what state we find ourselves in, we can find true joy and contentment – regardless of our circumstances. And this is because we no longer are dead in our sins but alive in Christ.
Before I gave my heart to Jesus at age 28, I tried everything to fill the void in my heart, that I now realize only Jesus can fill. I dabbled in transcendental meditation, in Eastern mysticism, Silva mind control, read books on the great thinkers of our world, and even went to a Buddhist monastery in New York City. My conclusion, after exploring all of these different avenues, was that I had more questions on what the meaning of life was then before I started my journey.
As a former atheist I found little joy in life. But as a spiritual seeker, outside of Christ, I found even less peace and contentment in life, since false gods can never fill the void in a human heart that only Jesus can fill. In fact believing in a higher power, that is a false god, who incidentally has no power at all, or at best satanic power, puts one in greater bondage because it moves us even farther away from the truth. But praise God one day someone shared the gospel with me, gave me a New Testament to read, and God opened my eyes to see that I was a sinner in need of a Savior. Six months later I gave my heart to Jesus and my life has been one glorious adventure, full of peace, joy, and contentment ever since.
Jesus, my friends, is truly the only hope for mankind. Without Christ disillusionment, depression, and disaster are the inevitable traveling companions that accompany those who journey is sadly devoid of the only truth that can bring lasting peace, joy, and meaning – and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
1 Quote by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “The terrible, tragic fallacy of the last hundre…” (goodreads.com)
2 Inspirational Quotes by Martyn-Lloyd Jones – page 3 (bibleportal.com)