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“There is a God-shaped hole in every one of us.” This is a misquote of the 17^th century mathematician Blaise Pascal. It might not be what he originally said, but it’s a simplification that has stuck because it speaks to something we all know – there is a longing, a thirst within us for more.

I believe this hole is actually the chasm that our sin creates between us and God. It is a bottomless pit and a merciless master with an insatiable appetite. In it, we are always hungry, always consuming, in an effort to feed our gaping desire. We feel that we lack something in some way. And although we may play nice or somehow disguise our selfishness, the truth is we are completely self-focused in trying to meet that need. Only it can never be met. Whatever we throw into the pit is never going to be enough.

We don’t always know, recognize, or anticipate our needs. The ancient Romans had tons of gods – one for everything from crops to sewers. Because if you count on an idol to meet your needs, you’ll need to make a new one every time you encounter a new need. None of them had any real power. A limitless God is the only one that can meet our every need.

A God-shaped piece won’t fill the hole any more than any other thing we try to fit into the hole. We need more than a piece of God. We need the fullness of God.

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ.   Colossians 1:19

When we choose the pieces we like of God to try to fill our holes, what we’re really doing is creating an idol. We are fashioning a god with our hands, the same way that a craftsman might choose a piece of wood, some precious gems, a hunk of stone. We put Him together like Mr Potato Head, picking the nose, the eyes, the characteristics we want Him to have. What we end up with isn’t God any more than Mr Potato Head is.

When Jesus was on earth, people tried to put Him into a category, a framework they already knew, a box. But they couldn’t – He defied their expectations. He broke every constraint they tried to put on Him. Every time they said, “You can’t do that,” He showed them that nothing is impossible with God. He willingly confined Himself to a human body, to the Cross, to the grave. But in the end none of those things could contain Him.

God cannot be contained – not by the shape of the hole in our hearts, not by the rules we set for Him, or the box we create for Him. He is as wild and untamed as the ocean.

We must welcome, embrace, receive God in all His fullness. He is too big for the container. I promise that He will break it. But the breaking will be like water decimating the dam that holds it back. What will spill out is life itself, like water spreading across a floodplain. The broken heart is capable of holding far more than the untouched one ever could.

We open our thirsty hearts for a drink and He responds with the entire ocean. In Him we are quenched, drenched, satisfied, content. This is the only way for the chasm to be filled – it must be stuffed, filled to overflowing, bulging at the top, bursting at the seams – with the infinite God.

“But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”   John 4:14

I had the privilege to travel to Rome and visit the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, comparable to a stadium and today’s downtown. Standing in the ruins, the tour guides did their best to bring the rocks to life by describing how it would have looked to the ancient Romans. Besides being intact, the buildings’ surfaces would have been covered with a marble or stucco veneer. The statues and friezes would have been painted in bright colors. Color and movement and life would have filled the area.

It’s a tour that involves looking at a lot of rocks and using your imagination. But the thing is, it isn’t hard to imagine the magnitude and grandeur of what was once there because what’s left is impressive all on its own.

And what’s left? Not the veneer. Not the paint. Not the bright colors. Disasters, neglect, theft, and the elements washed all that away. But what remains of almost every building is the foundation. The substructure. Because it’s what’s underneath that makes you strong. It’s what lasts. What endures.

What’s underneath your fancy facade and whitewashed walls? What testimony will the fragments and leftovers from your life give about you? Is there anything that will endure the test of tempests and time?

Hundreds of years before the Roman Empire, the Assyrians threatened Israel. Through the prophet Isaiah, God called His people to come to Him as their unshakable, immovable bedrock.

“I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem. It is firm, a tested and precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never run away again.” Isaiah 28:16

But Israel built their hopes on an alliance with Egypt, which failed when it was put to the test. Their nation collapsed and was never the same. Hundreds of years later, under Roman rule, the Israelites were still longing for a return to their political greatness. This time the messenger was God-in-the-flesh.

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.” Matthew 7:24

All of us are building something. It may be a place of refuge, a house of joy, or a den of iniquity. We might be using straw or granite. We might be master craftsmen or have a shoddy work ethic. But we are all building something. And the Bible says that “everyone’s work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value” (1 Corinthians 3:13).

We can build towering skyscrapers, and until they’re put to the test, we might be fooled about their real worth.  Then upheaval enters our lives, and what once seemed secure is unstable.  Trials come, and what seemed solid, cracks and reveals its emptiness.  Misfortune knocks, and what was impressive turns to rubble.

When Jesus tells us that His teaching is rock solid, He’s letting us know that only in Him will we find a foundation that will last. Only in Him will we find strength that will allow us to withstand fiery trials. He Himself is our cornerstone (Acts 4:11) and the only secure place on which to establish our hopes and our lives.