For decades, aspartame has been added to many of our foods as a sugar substitute.  For those trying to diet, lose weight, and stay away from sugar, aspartame was a way to enjoy the sweets we crave and still stay away from the sugar we wanted to avoid. And that—got me thinking…what else do we use as a substitute in our lives and what are we replacing God with?

There are so many substitutions available to us! So many distractions…We fill our lives with stuff, as George Carlin once summarized in his stand-up routine. We have houses to store our stuff—there is even an entire storage industry based on storing our “extra stuff”.  Speaking of industries, the diet industry in 2021 was a $254.9 billion business. How many of us are focusing our time, money and energy on trying to lose weight? You can add me to that list—this has been a constant struggle of mine for most of my adult life. Then you have the entertainment industry, the fashion industry—you have the stock market, you have all the “self-help” books, all these theories, plans, visualization—everything that you will need to help you become your “best self”.

But what were we truly created for? What is our “best self”? Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…”—God created us in His image to live in relationship with Him. Yet, even in the perfection of the garden of Eden, our flesh was weak, and Satan was able to distract mankind, causing us to forfeit our perfect life, for a bitter substitute. Isn’t that the real point? We are so broken, wretched people, that we can’t see the truth? Just as Adam and Eve did in the garden, we are still searching for the one “thing” that will make us “more”!

Now, I am not professing to have the answers. I struggle just as all of you do. I know that real truth, real life, real meaning, all comes from God and He should be my focus each day. But life is messy and I am weak! I often feel like a hamster on a wheel, spinning endlessly, trying to “run the race” as the writer of Hebrews instructs us. But, I am unable to maintain the pace!

The point I am trying so clumsily to make is this—keep your focus on God. Don’t fall into the trap of the distractions and substitutions that this broken world has to offer. Look to Him and make Him your focus and your purpose. Don’t fill yourself with the substitutions this world offers us; they will only leave you empty and with a bitter aftertaste.

King Solomon was the richest and wisest man to ever live. Yet, even he, lost his purpose.  He set out to find meaning in wealth, possessions, work, marriage, and the pleasures of the flesh. He writes in  Ecclesiastes that everything is meaningless outside the context of God. We will only find true happiness, true peace when we place Christ at the center of our world.

It is not an easy request, especially for a woman with ADHD. But, as I look back on my life and everything I have chased over the years; money, possessions, love—it is truly meaningless in the context of the eternal. I once heard a preacher say, “What will matter in 1,000 years?”. That simple statement holds so much truth. My 401k, my stock portfolio, my possessions—none of this will matter when I am standing before the throne of Christ. At that moment, all I will want to hear is Him saying to me, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”