It seems to me that many people in America know something is missing in their lives. There is a longing deep within the soul that needs to be filled, but if it isn’t filled with the right thing, it will remain restless and unsatisfied. In Luke chapter 11, Jesus told the story of a man who had an evil spirit cast out of him. The interesting aspect of this story is that apparently, there was nothing put in its place. So, after a while, the evil spirit returns, and finding the house empty, he takes a group of his demon friends with him. As a result, the man’s final condition is worse than it was at first.

Have you ever considered that these verses are describing people who tried to rid their lives of evil, but they failed to find anything to fill the void that remained? Consider the religious people who went to Jesus seeking something more. Or the rich young ruler who came to Jesus, boasting that he had kept all the commandments, but deep down, he knew something was missing. When Jesus told him what would fill the emptiness, he was not willing to do it. Nicodemus was a religious leader, but he knew something was missing.

In Judges chapters 17 and 18, a man named Micah created his own god and hired his own priest to say what he wanted him to say. He then said, “Now I don’t have anything to worry about. The god I have made with my own hands will take care of me.” But a man-made religion can be stolen very easily, and that’s what happened to the god Micah made. You can steal anything that a person has, but you can never steal what a person is. As long as God, prayer, and the Bible are nothing more than the paraphernalia of religion that we inherited along with other family possessions, we have something that a thief can break into and steal. But when we cross over the threshold of a religion that we have, to a faith in God that has us, when a fleshly encounter is transformed into a spiritual experience, when the Bible becomes more than just a book, when it is God’s inspired word, when prayer is more than just a collection of pious phrase’s strung together, when it becomes the stairway to the throne room of the Almighty, when Jesus is not simply a carpenter who picnicked on the shores of Galilee, but He my Savior, He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother, and a shepherd who restores our soul, there is not a thief in hell that can steal our faith.

What kind of faith do you have? Is it one that is built upon God’s Word, or is it one you’ve built to suit yourself? Man-made gods and man-made faith will let you down, but Jesus will never fail.