Pascal suggested that there is a God-shaped hole in the heart of everyone and the only thing that can fill it is God.* This condition developed upon the very first instance of man's disobedience to God's instructions. "They saw that they were naked." (Genesis 3:7) The righteousness with which man in his original state was clothed fell away immediately upon the commission of the sin of disobedience to the Creator.Yet God in his infinite love so yearned for reestablishment of fellowship with the Creature that he gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrificial atonement for man's sin. Peace returned to the world through this gift, yet the hole in our hearts can only be filled by accepting the gift.
Seeking frenetically for something to fill the void within is futile, no matter the excitement of the entertainment or the glitter of worldly possessions.
Peace, Jesus said, I leave with you.
Avail yourself of the Peace!
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. --John 14:7
*“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”
- Blaise Pascal, Pensées VII(425)
4 comments:
I am mulling over a philosophical definition of original sin, but it has some snags. If I sort it out, I'll put it on Off the Sanctuary Wall
Sharkebytes, when it is sorted, let me know!
Good advent thoughts.
Vee, I like that Jesus admonition, "Don't let your heart be afraid."
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