Does everyone have a "God-shaped hole"?
The “God-shaped hole”
concept states that every person has a void in his soul/spirit/life that can
only be filled by God. The “God-shaped hole” is the innate longing of the human
heart for something outside itself, something transcendent, something
“other.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 refers to God’s
placing of "eternity in man’s heart." God made humanity for His
eternal purpose, and only God can fulfill our desire for eternity. All religion
is based on the innate desire to “connect” with God. This desire can only be
fulfilled by God, and therefore can be likened to a “God-shaped hole.”
The problem, though, is that humanity
ignores this hole or attempts to fill it with things other than God. Jeremiah 17:9 describes the
condition of our hearts: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond
cure. Who can understand it?” Solomon reiterates the same concept: “The hearts
of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while
they live…” (Ecclesiastes 9:3). The New Testament
concurs: “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law,
nor can it do so” (Romans 8:7). Romans 1:18-22 describes
humanity ignoring what can be known about God, including presumably the
“God-shaped hole,” and instead worshiping anything and everything other than
God.
Sadly, too many spend their lives
looking for something other than God to fill their longing for
meaning—business, family, sports, etc. But in pursuing these things that are
not eternal, they remain unfulfilled and wonder why their lives never seem
satisfactory. There is no doubt that many people pursuing things other than God
achieve a measure of “happiness” for a time. But when we consider Solomon, who
had all the riches, success, esteem, and power in the world—in short, all that
men seek after in this life—we see that none of it fulfilled the longing for
eternity. He declared it all “vanity,” meaning that he sought after these
things in vain because they did not satisfy. In the end he said, “Now all has
been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his
commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
Just as a square peg cannot fill a
round hole, neither can the “God-shaped hole” inside each of us be filled by
anyone or anything other than God. Only through a personal relationship with
God through faith in Jesus Christ can the “God-shaped hole” be filled and the
desire for eternity fulfilled. GotQuestions.org
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