My youth leader keeps reminding us that God should be the priority in every aspect of our lives, especially in school where we spend most of our time. Even though I’ve been taught the truth from a very young age, I still find myself questioning; Will I ever fit in? Do my friends even like me? Will I ever be good enough?
Often, I feel overwhelmed by this flow of problems that just never seem to have an end. The list goes on and on; self-image, reputation, grades, all the pressure and expectations, a never-ending to-do list.
In our attempt to check off all the boxes in our list, we search far and wide to find the answers, from social media to that sense of belonging from others. What we don’t realise is that these solutions are very much temporary. You could say it’s like a sugar rush, it feels great at the time, but it’ll quickly fade and will only leave you searching for more.
And so, this reminds me of a metaphor about our hearts. Blaise Pascal (a famous mathematician and theologian) says, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” – This is how God has designed us, so we can remember that we are not of this world. He is the only one who can not only fill this void, but also leave it overflowing. Just like it says in Psalm 107:9, “For He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things.”
I’m sure that we start thinking; so what? How does this relate to me and my problems? It was only last year when I began to truly understand how true and eternal satisfaction can only be found when we are in Christ. At the time, I was drowning in my schoolwork, and I felt frustrated with all the expectations. Feeling lost, I turned to the people around me, hoping to find answers and happiness. But it just didn’t work. I didn’t feel any better, and maybe even worse than before, because I knew that this was not the right solution.
So who can fulfil our needs and desires? Who do we turn to next time we face problems? As I continue to experience such issues, I’m constantly reminded of how only God can help us, and it’s in His word that we can find the answers that we try so hard to find. But that doesn’t mean we only go to Him when we’re in trouble. We’re satisfied when we have a real relationship with God when we wrestle with Him daily and give our whole selves to Him.
To sum it all up, we need to entirely depend on God because He is the only one that can satisfy our longing soul and help us overcome all the struggles we face at school and in our daily lives. In the following videos, we’ll delve deeper into the stories of more teenagers and explore how we must overcome these common struggles.
