By LESLIE LUDY
In my book, Authentic Beauty, I wrote about our tendency as women to look outside of Christ for our happiness and fulfillment:
“So many of us, though we claim to know Jesus Christ, are still longing for our deepest desires to be fulfilled by someone else. We frantically seek the man of our dreams, giving ourselves completely to one relationship after the next, hoping that when we finally find the right guy our romantic fantasies will become reality.”
Whether married or single, it is all too tempting to look to human relationships to satisfy needs in our heart that only Jesus can meet. Yes, earthly relationships can bring great happiness and fulfillment into our lives, but they can never replace the lasting, eternal, soul-level satisfaction that we find in Christ alone.
As I said in Authentic Beauty,
“Most of us don’t ever realize that Jesus Christ is not a flimsy, flannel-board figure from a Sunday-school lesson; that He is not a stern dictator looking down on us from heaven to make sure we obey His rules; that He is not a distant being who is too busy running the world to care about the details of our day-to-day lives; and that He is so much more than someone we say we believe in to keep ourselves out of hell when we die.
He is the Lover of our souls. Our true Prince. The One we have been longing for, searching for, and dreaming of since childhood. The One who will love us the way no one else can love us; the One who will cherish us forever; the One who will transform us from hopeless girls in rags into beautiful, confident, radiant princesses. He is the One who makes us ready for true, lasting, human love. And He is the One who meets our deepest needs when human love falls short.”
Recently I have been freshly meditating upon the wonder and majesty of all that Jesus is. Whenever I catch myself thinking, If only such-and-such could finally happen, I would be so much happier! – that’s when I know I’ve lost sight of Him. Because when my eyes are fixed squarely upon the Person of Jesus Christ, I know that have everything I need right now for joy, peace, happiness and fulfillment, no matter what my circumstances are. There isn’t a need He cannot meet. There isn’t a problem He cannot solve. There isn’t a void He cannot fulfill.
A few months ago a talented team at Ellerslie produced a film called He Is, and I have watched it again and again. It is such a powerful reminder that I have no excuse to look elsewhere for my fulfillment. With such a Savior, I have no reason to be unfilled or unhappy. Because I am in Christ, I have access to all that He is each and every day I live on this earth, and all throughout eternity. And truly, that is the best, most exciting, most fulfilling news I could ever receive!