Film Friday I was recently watching Matt Damon talk about the time he and Ben Affleck won Oscars for writing their film Goodwill Hunting. The interviewer asked them if they went crazy the night they won. But Matt Damon said he went home, put the Oscar on the table and thought about it. And he realised that, for all the glory of winning this prestigious award, if he had a hole inside of him, that would never fill it.
And that put me in mind of St Augustine who once said something like this, when speaking of God: ‘Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in You.’ And that reminded me of something I think I read in one of Pete Greig’s books. We often try to fill the gap inside with stuff that just makes the gap bigger.
When discussing writing books with someone once, he said to me that the glow would quickly fade from having a book published. And it’s true. Success can bring the initial rush of a thrill. But it won’t fill the gap inside. The gap was never designed to hold things like achievement, power, or success. Only God can fill the gap in our mind, body and soul. Only God can satisfy that restless longing. And if you are like me you need to refocus on that again and again and again and again. So easy to forget. But the great thing is, when God is at the centre, we are better able to appreciate all the other good things in life. Because we are not looking to them for something they can never supply.
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