Have you ever tossed around in your mind the question of ‘is there something missing in my life?’ If so, you’d certainly be in good company because it appears to be one of the most pondered lines of thought human beings wrestle with. Often in conversations, people casually acknowledge they are aware there ‘must be more than this.’
Murray Smith
Contemporary culture’s mirror of music provides a telling reflection and this “something missing” theme recurs repeatedly in the lyrics of popular songs. Marcia Hynes wrote “Something’s Missing in My Life,” which included words which many people would relate to. “Got my house, got my fancy car, everything’s going like I planned so far, something’s not there, should be there, I’ve got to find it somewhere…”
The song goes on to suggest that perhaps what’s missing is a romantic connection; “Maybe it’s you…” That’s a common quest; the sense of life being made complete by a relationship that will meet our needs and “complete” us.
Freddie Mercury, lead singer Queen died in 1991. One of his last songs on The Miracle album asked, “Does anybody know what we are living for?”
Freddie Mercury statue in Switzerland. Photo: Nicola Vidali: pexels.com
In spite of amassing a fortune and attracting millions of fans, he admitted in an interview shortly before his death that he was desperately lonely.
He said, “You can have everything in the world and still be the loneliest man and that is the most bitter type of loneliness. Success brought me world idolisation and millions of pounds, but it’s prevented me from having the one thing we all need – a loving, ongoing relationship.”
John Mayer reiterated the theme – “Something’s missing, and I don’t know how to fix it, something’s missing, and I don’t know what it is, no I don’t know what it is, at all…”
So, if meaning and purpose ultimately isn’t found in achievement, relationships, fame, success, possessions or pleasure seeking, where is it found? This troubling question has percolated in the hearts and minds of people over time.
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) was a French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, inventor, and theologian. As a theological writer, he was a staunch defender of Christian faith claiming, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of everyone which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ”.
So, in a certain sense Marcia Hynes, Freddie Mercury and countless others were right to speak of an ongoing relationship as the one thing we all need. Yet no human relationship will satisfy entirely. Nor can it be completely ongoing. There always remains something missing. That is because we were created to live in a relationship with God. Jesus said, “I am the Way”. He is the only One who can bring us into relationship with God that goes on into eternity.
Trying to experience a movie on-line with it buffering because the wi-fi signal is weak is frustrating. You know there’s more. Plugging in an ethernet cable changes everything. Life without a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, is attempting to live without being “plugged in”.
Photo: Andrea Piacquadio. pexels.com
