EMPTY
After decades of counseling teens, psychologist Madeline Levine is seeing a barrage of despondent youth—mostly smart, successful, and advantaged kids—who feel utterly lost and empty. In The Price of Privilege, she tells of a fifteen-year-old girl who was “bright, personable, highly pressured by her adoring, but frequently preoccupied… parents,” yet was “very angry.” The teen entered her office wearing a long sleeve shirt covering her arms. Levine diagnosed her as a “cutter,” who mutilated her body. Pulling back her sleeve, the counselor was astounded to see the word “EMPTY” carved on her forearm with a razor.
Levine observed this regarding her youthful clients: “The surface of [their family life] always looks good… The lawns are perfectly manicured; the houses always look beautiful. But when you get to what’s going on beneath these kids’ T-shirts, there’s not much happening inside.”
In some ways, this fifteen-year-old represents millions of others— not just in her generation, but our world as a whole. How many today are moving through life as mere shells, with “EMPTY” carved, not into their skin, but on their hearts? How many are unaware of the life God intends us to live? How many sense that something’s missing, but not quite able to identify it? Joy and peace seem just beyond their grasp, like a carrot dangling on a stick.
What’s the answer? At the risk of sounding trite, it’s simply Jesus. He is the light of the world (John 8:12), living water (John 4:10), and the bread of life (John 6:35). He is the fulfillment of every longing of our hearts (Luke 19:41), filling our innermost being when we’re “empty.”
Even as believers, we can slip into an empty existence, missing the abundant life God designed for us to experience. We know the answer. On one occasion when the multitudes abandoned Jesus, he asked his disciples, “Are you also going to leave? Simon Peter replied, ‘Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life’” (John 6:67-68).
Let me paraphrase Peter’s comment: “If not Jesus, then what?” Power? Popularity? Prosperity? Pleasure? All fine, in and of themselves. But as the purpose of life? They leave us empty and dry, prompting teens to carve “EMPTY” on their arms. The world simply cannot fulfill us. Millions have tried it, and found it lacking. Seeking fulfillment in anything this world offers, leaves us frustrated, fearful, and… well, empty.
Principle: Pursuing what the world offers leaves us empty.
Promise: Jesus is the answer to the emptiness we face.
Ponder:
What does the world offer that tempts me at times to pursue to find fulfillment?
Under what circumstances do I truly grasp the reality of “If not Jesus, then what?”
Pursue: For a deeper dive, study John 6:25-71.
Prayer: “Lord Jesus, at times my heart is drawn to what the world offers. During those moments please prompt me through your Spirit to turn my eyes to you.”
Perceptions: Record any ideas God puts on your heart from today’s devotion.