ONCE UPON A DARK TIME, I loved to party. One morning I had to go to a club because I had misplaced my driver’s license the night before. For those of you've ever done this, you will know that a club in the light is a vile thing. Everything is cheap and tacky and filthy. All the supposed glitz and glamour of the night before has disappeared. Any satisfaction has fled and all that is left is a disappointing reality.
This is the world in a nutshell. We wake up one day with the music and lights switched off, the makeup removed, the wallet empty and the realization of what it truly was: Smoke and Mirrors.
And all we’re crying out for is something of Substance; true satisfaction.
Well I’m here to tell you (or remind you) that there is only one who can truly satisfy us (and our seemingly insatiable longings to be loved and seen and treasured). There is only one in whom true satisfaction can be found, and that is Jesus Christ.
He satisfies all who love and trust him, and he keeps every promise he makes (Psalm 111:5). He satisfies the souls of thirsty ones and fills the hungry with all that is good! (Psalm 107:9). The Lord satisfies the longings of all his lovers, but he withholds from the wicked what their souls crave. (Proverbs 10:3).
Each one of us needs to make a choice: the world or the Kingdom of God. There is no in-between.
I remember the day that I chose to stop being lukewarm and to take my one foot out the world. It forever transformed me, turned my life on its head in the best way, and freed me from all Smoke and Mirrors.
We must remember that we are Soldiers in the Kingdom:
Every soldier called to active duty must divorce himself from the distractions of this world so that he may fully satisfy the one who chose him.’
2 Timothy 2:4
My prayer for you is that you would choose Substance over Smoke and Mirrors. ‘True life is found in every word, which constantly goes forth from God’s mouth.’ This is what we must seek after. Jesus is Who we are longing for. It’s time to leave the ways of the world behind.
Father, let the sunrise of your love end our dark night. Break through our clouded dawn again! Only you can satisfy our hearts, filling us with songs of joy to the end of our days. (Psalm 90:14)