The Hole

What do Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain all have in common? Well, their fame is the most obvious. They were all revolutionary musicians in their time. Most of them had an addiction to one or more type of drugs. Some of you may even note how their names have been listed in order of their date of death, from earliest to most current. Some of you may even know how they all ironically died at the age of 27, forming part of what some refer to as the "27 Club" or "Dead at 27".

They experienced pretty much all of the success that the non-Christian world places the highest importance upon: fame, money, and material possessions. And despite the fact that they all had relationship problems and were mostly lonely and depressed - hence the drug abuse - countless musicians in their wake still aspire to their fame and lifestyles. It's as though they think fame and wealth will make them immune to what befell their idols.

But these non-Christian famous (and not-yet-famous) people have another thing in common that only a Christian in a close walk with God would notice, an all too common and tragic ailment: they all had a hole in their heart. They all achieved most of the worldly plateaus of success, but they were still missing that one thing that would have filled this hole and given them the peace, joy, and satisfaction - the ultimate aims of success - that were eluding them.

Their bank account wasn't able to fill it. Drugs filled it for a time, at the beginning, until they did what all drugs do, which is to drag their users to the brink of death and despair and sometimes into death itself. Not even Yoko Ono could fill the hole in John Lennon's heart, nor Courtney Love in Kurt Cobain's heart. Nor their lavish homes or lifestyles or possessions that so many common people covet.

Their hole was not something that physical or emotional things are designed to fill. Their hole was a spiritual one.

A man whose teachings have had an enormous influence on my Christian walk since it started, Charles Stanley, once remarked that we cannot find our fulfillment in physical things because we were designed as spiritual beings. His point is that we can only find our fulfillment in - have that hole in our hearts filled by - spiritual things.

Now his argument would not have made sense to me when I heard it if my experiences - and those of so many other people - weren't able to back it up. But when I heard this argument around ten years ago, I had just turned my back on a lifestyle that defied and rejected God and coincidentally had left me with no peace, joy, or satisfaction whatsoever. In my old life, I turned to everything that these famous people did to try to fill the hole in my heart and my life was as unfulfilling as theirs were.

My new life, however - which started by getting right with God through asking Jesus Christ to forgive me of my sins and to have Him live His life through me - had already given me peace, joy, and satisfaction that I had never experienced before nor realized that I could ever have through something so simple (and weird sounding!) as placing my life into the hands of this Jesus.

Even after reading this, some people still can't imagine how people with such fame, money, and material possessions could still possibly have unfulfilled lives. But check out the cover stories at your nearest magazine stand: Jen still seems so lost and empty without Brad. Heather has left Paul heartbroken and also ripped a gaping hole into his bank account. Then there's the ongoing saga with Britney and Justin and their dysfunctional kids. And on and on. When they realized that their fame, money, and material possessions didn't fill the hole, they turned to other people - imperfect, flawed, physical beings - to try to fill it. And then the mess that ensues ends up on magazine covers everywhere.

Jesus remarked that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24) and "You can't be slaves to both God and money" (Luke 16:13). It's not that the rich and/or famous can't know God or enter His kingdom, it's just that their fame, money, and material possessions make it hard for them to believe they need God even when their self-made attitudes and attempts to find fulfillment end up in a miserable mess.

Knowing God is the only way for the famous person and the regular person to fill the hole that exists in their hearts. How have your attempts to fill this hole apart from God panned out? If they've ended up in a miserable mess, or even just left you unfulfilled, then continuing to reject God is holding you back from the peace, joy, and satisfaction that you're really searching for and that only God promises through Jesus Christ.