Can Christian Drug Rehab Fill the God-Shaped Hole?

Do you ever feel like something is missing in your life? Not just that you might be far from loved ones, or are striving for something, or longing for an event to occur. If you look at your life, do you really feel like there is a hole that you just aren’t able to fill, a longing, a desire for something, but you don’t even know what it is? It’s often referred to as the God-shaped hole, and it is a condition that occurs when an individual is far from God or unwilling to seek God. Because God wants to be close to each one of us, we feel the lack of His presence when we try to live without Him in our lives. Christian drug rehab is an excellent way to address the need for God, especially for those who try to fill the God-shaped void with drugs or alcohol.

Definition and Origin of God-Shaped Hole

The term God-shaped hole has been used for the past decade as authors, preachers, and even song writers have tried to put into words the helpless feeling we get trying to live a life apart from God. However, the idea of a God-shaped hole goes back all the way to Bible times, when the Apostle Paul was first preaching in the city of Athens. At that time, the people of Athens had erected an altar “to an unknown God” and Paul told them he knew about this God they were trying to find. Paul went on to tell the people about the one true God, the one they were missing in their lives, who loved them and saved them from their sins. We read in this section of the Bible that God created humans to “seek him and reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:27)

How this Void Causes Addiction

Simply put, God has made each of us to seek Him and to know Him, and when we go on living our lives without God, we sense that a piece of us is missing, and it causes restlessness, loneliness, and unhappiness. God made us to love Him and serve Him, and when we don’t fulfill our calling, we struggle with many different feelings of anxiety and depression. We feel like there must be more to life, that we are heading down the wrong path, and that we need to search for something that will make us truly happy again. These thoughts and attitudes can quickly drive us to substance abuse, addiction, and despair.

Many people have started drinking or using drugs in order to meet a need in their lives, a need they may not even be able to identify. Substance use is not the answer and it will not solve our problem. Yes, it might make us feel better for the moment, but when the substance wears off and we see what a mess we’ve made in our lives, and still haven’t found what we are looking for, we feel even worse about ourselves. Trying to fill the God-shaped hole with drugs or alcohol will only cause more anguish and unrest.

17th-century philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal summed it up well in his writings, Pensées. “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”

Christian Rehab Fills the Void

Are you struggling to keep God out of your life? Are you trying your best to fill the void with every other imaginable object? It might be a positive change in your life like healthy eating, exercise, volunteering, or making a donation to the poor. Or you may have turned to more destructive activities to try to make yourself feel better, like drugs, alcohol, one night stands, or careless spending. Nothing will effectively fill the God-shaped hole in your heart except for God Himself. That’s how He designed you. God wants to have the top spot in your life, and He wants you to know Him, believe in Him, and love Him. The best way to fill the void you’ve been feeling is to read the Bible and pray for God’s guidance in your life. Spend time with other Christians, take time for worship, and be open to every opportunity to study God’s word.

When it comes to treatment for drug addiction and alcoholism, Christian rehab is so effective because it focuses on the problem each of us has with filling the God-shaped hole. Everyone who struggles with addiction also struggles with placing other things in life ahead of God. Every addict has spent time searching for what can finally make them satisfied and happy. Every addict, like each and every one of us, has turned their back on God and refused to let Him hold a place of honor in their hearts and lives. We all feel the damage caused by sin and feel something is missing when we don’t have God.

Christian rehab helps bring the focus back to God and what He has done for us. Our heavenly Father loved us so much that he sacrificed His Son to pay the price for our sin, including the sin of addiction. God loves us, despite our failures and shortcomings. Christian treatment reminds us of that, and helps us get past the guilt so we can go on to lead forgiven lives, enriched by God’s guidance and presence.

Christian rehab combines spiritual healing with proven clinical techniques for addiction recovery. Together the dual approach helps heal the entire individual. A Christian focus in rehab is important because it replaces the negative thoughts and behaviors with a message of love and forgiveness from our Savior, and fills the void in our lives that only God can fill.