Saint Augustine once said of God, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.” We are all restless creatures of desire. As the Teacher of Ecclesiastes said, God has put eternity in our hearts (3:11). One of the problems of being human is that we long for the infinite, but we are surrounded by finite, things that break down, become boring, and are limited. Not knowing what to do with the hole in our heart, we seek to fill it with more. More money, more alcohol, more TV, more sex, more approval, more achievements, more tasty food, etc. None of these things are bad in and of themselves, but they are unable to satisfy our deepest longings. The things outside of God that captivate our minds and hearts always over promise and under deliver. For the rest of this post I will compare invitations of Jesus with the invitations of the world, and consider who is able to deliver on their promise.

Invitations of God

Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Isaiah 55:1-3: “Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost! Why do you spend money on what is not food, and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and you will enjoy the choicest of foods. Pay attention and come to me; listen, so that you will live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the promises assured to David.”

The invitation in these two passages is to rest, to carry an easy yoke, to come and enjoy the best foods and wines without having to pay a cent. Weary and burdened is a good way to describe our world. When you ask how somebody is doing, there is a good chance that they will respond, “Busy.” We are busy, tired, and anxious people longing for peace and rest, yet we constantly spend our time and money on that which does not give us the rest that we need. Below are some of the things that promise peace, rest, and fulfilment:

Invitations of the World

TV: “Come to me all who are bored, tired, and unsatisfied with your life and I will give you escape and entertainment.”

Smartphone: “Come to me all who are lonely, curious, and bored and I will show you what you are looking for along with detached connections.”

Amazon: “Come to me all who lack, come and buy from me and have it in two days without leaving your home.”

Social Media: “Come to me all who are lonely, stressed, and bored and I will give you superficial connection and a feeling that your life doesn’t measure up to others or a feeling of pride for how much better you are.”

Snooze Button: “Come to me all who are sleepy and tired and I will give you 10 more minutes of rest . . . maybe just 10 more . . . ok, 10 more but this is the last time . . .”

Spotify: “If anyone has ears to hear, let them listen to whatever song or podcast that they want (for a small price).”

Video Games: “Come to me all who are bored, lonely, and yearn to accomplish great things, and I will bring you into a new and exciting world that you can explore risk free.”

Tinder/Dating Apps: “Come to me all who are busy and desire companionship, and I will give you a quick hook up that has as few strings attached as you want.”

Pornography: “Come to me all who lonely, tired, and horny and I will give you temporary relief with a perfect looking person who will never reject you.”

Sports (Fan): “Come to me all who yearn to be a part of something greater than yourself, who desire beauty and a different story than the one you’re living in, and I will show you young men and women doing their best at playing a game. You can be as kind, cruel, or passionate as you want.”

Alcohol: “Come to me all who are worn out from a long day. Let me take the edge off. I can even make you forget your problems and stressors in your life.”

Junk Food: “Come to me all who are stressed, hungry, and busy and I will excite your taste buds and fill your stomach, but I won’t nourish the body. I will make you crave me so much that you won’t worry about the long term effects.”

I am not saying that these things are inherently wrong (except for porn, I can’t think of anything redeemable about that). I like watching TV, I use Spotify about everyday, I have a beer every once in a while, and I enjoy watching sports and snacking. However, if we look to these things to fill the hole in our heart, we will constantly be disappointed. Have you every had a Netflix binge day and the next day you felt just as tired and restless as the day before? How about trying to eat away negative feelings but you see that those feelings don’t go away? Maybe hit the bars at the end of a long week, have a few too many and then have to carry the weight from the work week plus a hangover? These things promise us peace, rest, and comfort, but they will let us down.

Ephesians 5:18 says, “Don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled with the Spirit.” One way to paraphrase this verse is, “Don’t try to fill the hole in your heart with alcohol (or TV or social media or porn or junk food), it will leave your life off worse and make you feel more empty in the long run. Instead, look to God’s Holy Spirit because only an infinite God can fill the infinite void inside of you.” Jesus is the only one who delivers on his promise to give peace, rest, and satisfaction. By looking to Jesus first, we can put things in their proper place and receive them with thanksgiving. You can use these things rather than these things using you.

As you think about what you consume, I think a good question to ask yourself is, “Can I genuinely thank God for this?” If there is anything you feel weird about telling God “thank you” for, it is probably a good sign that you should step away from it for a time. For example, there are times when I watch a show or two and I feel a sense of joy and contentment, after which it is easy to step away and do something else. There are other times when I know I need to go to bed, but I can’t stop myself from watching another episode. In the latter case, I would struggle to thank God for that show because I am not using it as God would want. In those moments I look to the show to give me peace and rest that should be God’s job to give.

A couple final questions I’ll leave you with are, what are things that make you feel true joy/ stir your affections for God/ make you feel a sense of awe and wonder? Conversely, what are are things that steal your joy and affections for God? What might it look like to intentionally design your life so that you fill your life with what gives you joy cut out the things that rob your joy?