Blaise Pascal, the famous mathematician and philosopher of the 1600’s is often quoted as saying “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every person which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator.” Most of us hunger for something more than this physical world can give us. We search for meaning and truth to fill the void inside. Some turn to relationships, to their careers, to money, all in a desperate attempt to satisfy the emptiness we sometimes feel. According to John 6:35: “Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

According to Eric Fromm’s theory on human needs, people are motivated by five distinctively human needs – relatedness, transcendence, rootedness, a sense of identity, and a frame of orientation. These needs are aimed at moving people toward a reunion with the natural world. Lack of satisfaction of any of these needs is unbearable and results in insanity. He believed that only love produces authentic fulfillment. He also held that only creativeness permits joy. Only a rational philosophy can serve as a basis for the growth of total personality.

The vacuum in our hearts cannot be filled by any physical thing or human being. Rather, our “needs” can only be filled with a true relationship with Jesus Christ. The solution is a relationship with Him, not any other person, place, or thing on this earth. John 6:35-36: “Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me will never be hungry. He who puts his trust in Me will never be thirsty. I said to you that you have seen Me and yet you do not put your trust in Me.”

The longing for relationship that is in each of us drives us to do almost anything in order to have a meaningful relationship or purpose in our lives. We might try to find our needs met in another human being by getting married. Some of us might become workaholics, and get too absorbed, sometimes lost, in our careers. Sadly, others will experiment with drugs or alcohol in a misguided attempt to fill those aching needs. God knows what is best for us. Jeremiah 29:11-13: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Don’t be misled. The temporal things of this earth that Fromm says will truly satisfy us and complete our human needs are only temporary. They do not last. Trying to find meaning or purpose in other flawed human beings, imperfect jobs, or addictions only lead to disappointment. Only God and His love are permanent. Romans 8:38-39 reminds us: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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