All The Wrong Things In All The Wrong Places

(Recommended Reading – John 3:1-21)

As we go through life, so many people are desperately seeking joy, peace, love, success, etc.  As they go about seeking these things, they enter into temporal solutions – happiness instead of joy, lust instead of love, greed instead of success and self-satisfaction instead of peace.  No matter what they do, there are areas of their lives that just cannot ever seem to be filled, never seem to meet the deep needs that are there – there is a void.

That void is God-shaped and true salvation is all they should be seeking, if necessary, in desperation.  Jesus Christ in your life will fill that void.  

The sad thing is that the resolution is such a simplistic solution yet some people avoid it – unfortunately sometimes intentionally.  That solution is a gift available to us all – a free gift from God.  All we have to do is receive Jesus as our Savior and believe in Him.  We cannot work for it, we cannot earn it in any way and we do not even deserve it.  But God the Father loves us all so very much that through the birth, life, death and resurrection of His own son, Jesus, on this earth more than 2000 years ago, we can just simply believe and be spiritually born again.  With this re-birth, we can have a full, satisfying life here on earth.  We will all die a physical death some day, but our spirit will resurrect and have eternal life in His presence!  (And please note – the option isn’t a pretty one.)       

John 1:11-13 (TLB) says: “Even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted. Only a few would welcome and receive him. But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them. All those who believe this are reborn!—not a physical rebirth resulting from human passion or plan—but from the will of God.” 

And Ephesians 2:1-9 (CEV) says: “In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins.  At that time you followed the world’s evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God.  Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God’s anger.  But God’s mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved. In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world. He did this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of his grace in the love he showed us in Christ Jesus. For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that no one can boast about it.  When we are naturally born to our mothers, we are “born of water” but we need to also be ‘born of the Spirit’.”

Jesus explains in John 3:1-21 (the recommended reading) about the importance of being born again and how to accomplish it.  It is necessary in order to have the eternal life we should all be striving for. 

So if you have been sensing a void in your life while seeking all the wrong things in all the wrong places – with no real satisfaction – then start desperately seeking salvation and watch the miracles occur! 

Written By Karran Martin – October 2, 2018/Revised July 17, 2026 

[All bold emphasis is mine]