Arthur Miller is celebrated as one of the top writers in the 20th Century.
His credits are vast. They include The Death of a Salesman, A View From the Bridge, and The Crucible. Critics showered him with awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
And yet, with all the fame and acclaim, a hole pierced his life.
He stopped believing in God as a teenager and went on to his stellar career. He had all what it seemed life could offer him. Listen to how he reflected on his life decades later:
I feel like I’ve carried around this sense of judgment. I could not escape it. I still felt like I needed to prove myself to others: to have somebody tell me that I was okay, that I was acceptable, that I was approved of.
As someone has said, Miller made a bad bargain. He exchanged the God of Christians with the “god” of audience approval. And with all the applause, he never felt accepted.
It remains a familiar feeling among rich and poor. Something is missing. Today, social media amplifies the loneliness when we compare our “likes” and “thumbs up” to others. We, like Miller, pursue the god of approval.
Jesus met people with holes in them. They all asked, “what else do I need?” A young man came to him in Matthew 19. His question was simple. “I’ve done well, but something is missing. What do I lack?” Rather than a pat on the head, Jesus gave him a direction.
“Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)
Jesus tells him that he is so full of himself that he needs to pour it out on the ground. Then, come, follow, and find a life filled with purpose.
What do you do with a void? Don’t fill it with more of what you don’t need. Christ can put the only thing that fits into your life–God’s will.
What’s goes in your void?
-Robert G. Taylor-
