God-shaped hole

This passage (Mark 10:17-22) has always had a way of breaking my heart. I don't know what it is. Maybe I see myself in the rich young man (as poor as I feel) or maybe I worry that I would be like him in the same situation.

It's interesting to me that when the young man asks Jesus what he needs to do to gain eternal life, Jesus gives him the 'love your neighbor' portion of the ten commandments: no murder, no adultery, no stealing, no false witness, no defrauding, honor your parents. The young man says that he's done all these things since he was young.

I wonder what the man's demeanor was like. Had he reached a point of desperation in his life? Had he tried to buy happiness and contentment and found it lacking? Had he tried leading a 'good' life and found it unfulfilling? His response, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth," sounds desperate. I imagine there was a note of pleading in his voice. Please, please, tell me what will fill me up. Tell me what will make this emptiness in my heart go away.

Jesus looks at him and loves him. He sees the God-shaped hole in the young man's heart. He sees somone who longs for something more.

But I think Jesus also saw the giant chain around that God-shaped hole. The man had tried to lock his possessions into that hole and had convinced himself that without those things, he would have no worth. No meaning.

Jesus asked him to unlock those chains. He asked him to let go of the things that prevented God from filling in the hole in his heart. He asked him to obey the 'love the Lord your God' portion of the ten commandments. He even reassures the man that if he gives away his earthly possessions, he will be reimbursed in heaven.

But the young man can't do it. He can't let go. Those things, those chains have become something of a security blanket. He believes that they keep him together, that without those chains, everything would fall apart. He would cease to be.

We are built with God-shaped holes in our hearts and only God can fill that hole. As I think about myself, I wonder what chains I have fashioned to try to force other things into that hole. My ministry perhaps? My ambition? What am I unwilling to unlock so that God can fill that hole completely?

It's a scary thing to let go. It's terrifying to unlock those chains because that hole holds our identity and contentment, both things that God can give us completely if we let him. If we choose to not lock him out.

As leaders, we have to more quickly come to the place of letting go so that God can fill that hole in our hearts. We have to come to the place where God and only God satisfies us. I say 'have to' because it is exceedingly hard to encourage anyone else to let go and unlock their chains if we can't do it ourselves.

Run an audit of your heart. What are your chains? What do you need to let go of? Addictions? Possessions? Achievements? How can we help each other let go so that God can more fully come in?

Jesus doesn't force us to let God fill in that hole. He let the young man walk away. He didn't chase after him. Jesus will never force us to do anything. He will ask us to do things out of love for him, but we are free to choose not to.

Just remember, if we choose to unlock our chains and let go of the things we hold in our God-shaped holes, we will gain treasure in heaven. We will gain freedom. We will gain contentment and identity.

Best of all, we get God.