The Gospel can change your life. It changed mine, and is continually changing mine everyday. It's not a magical incantation you say as an eight year old, it's a slow process of stripping everything about you that runs from God toward a new you, the real you that lays beneath the shadow of the Cross in a humble surrender. This process is continual, each Christian you meet is a work-in-progress. If we finished cooking, God would have taken us from the Earth by now. But as you can see, He has not. So there is still work in me, and all others in Christ.
That being said, I'd liked to share how the Gospel has been transforming the way I treat people. All people. Fiance, family, close friends, acquaintances, strangers. Brothers and Sisters in Christ and lost people.
Before I was in Christ, I was searching. I was empty. I needed filling. I tried to fulfill my needs with people, like most people do. But each relationship left me dry and emptier than before. My parents were (are) loving, incredible people, but as humans, they could never fill the needs that were designed to be sustained by the Father through Christ. As a child, I had one best friend. She was all I had, I was all she had. We were placing all our eggs in a basket that was never meant to hold the weight of another human soul. When I moved away at 12, I was naturally devastated, as was she. As I began to form new friendships, I would jump in so quickly that I would always be left to hang; no one could fill me up. Not one person, not two, not ten. The story is the same with crushes and dating relationships. I expected so much from them, I would suck them dry of everything I needed until they were left a broken shell of a person. The same happened vice versa.
The evidence could continually pile up, but I think you get the point; people cannot complete us. Not one, not two, not ten. People can't fix me, Christ can. The hollowness is supposed to point to the glaringly obvious Savior. People were not placed on this earth to serve us, they're PEOPLE. It's no wonder this world is messed up, every person is walking around thinking every other person is there for them! It's ridiculous, and I thank the Lord that He revealed this part of my ugly sinful heart in order that He could make me clean.
Since Christ not only filled in the gaping hole in my heart, but also gave me a new heart, I see things differently (although my sinful flesh fights me daily in this). I don't look to Fiance for satisfaction, because I know he wasn't given to me for that purpose. I don't look to friends to fix my emotional problems because I have the Holy Spirit inside me who is my Helper. I don't need to put so much pressure on people now that the weight of my heavy soul has been lifted. I don't look at strangers as if they're out to get me, but see them as sad people with the same predicament that I had! If I can continually learn to serve people instead of forcing them to serve me, I can maybe get the opportunity once in a while to brag on my Healer, instead of giving them more emotional baggage after leaving them like others did to me.
People are gifts, not gods. They're never going to fix you, fulfill you, sustain you, complete you, worship you, restore you, or keep you going (or anything else you crave). They were never made for that. They can help you or neglect you, but they fill never make you whole. Look to Christ.
In Christ.
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