He told me about his foreign holidays (at least two a year), his fancy car, his big house and his lovely family, and then he said he would lie awake at night just wondering if there wasn't more to life than this.
It's perhaps because of the frantic pace and constant noise our society generates that results in very few people taking time to think big thoughts and ask big questions, but many who stop to reflect on life have asked the same question - "Is there not more to life?" Is there a real point, a transcendent purpose, an eternal plan? My friend felt this frustrating futility and overwhelming emptiness because he knew that everything he had could be lost someday and will be lost one day. I told him about Solomon and his experiment to find satisfaction in the world apart from God. You can read about it in the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon's words really struck a chord with my friend - "All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full..." (Ecclesiastes 1 v 7).
The human heart is too big for the world to fill. We were made by God and for God, and can never have real fulfilment or true satisfaction until we are in a right relationship with God. The relationship has been broken because of sin - it's a barrier we can't remove; it's a gulf we can't bridge; it's a debt we can't cancel; it's a stain we can't cleanse - that's why we lack peace, that's why we hate the thought of meeting God - we have that sense of guilt, fear and foreboding when we think about these things. If we are to have a relationship with God then the issue of our sin has to be dealt with, and only the Lord Jesus can do that, because He stepped in to pay the penalty. So He can remove the barrier, bridge the gulf, cancel the debt, and cleanse the stain - He is the one Mediator between God and men (1Timothy 2 v 4-6; 1Peter 3 v 18; Hebrews 7 v 25). Reconciliation to God entails two things: first, admitting the fault for the rift is entirely on our side, and second, coming in repentance to the Lord for forgiveness. When we do He brings us into that saving, satisfying relationship with God that will never end - the gap is filled...perfectly.
