Futile efforts

What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could be like gods — be their own masters — invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history — money :: poverty :: ambition :: war :: prostituion :: classes :: empires :: slavery — the long terrible story of

man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

Terrific energy is expended — civilizations are built up — excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong.

That is the key to history.

The reason why it can never succeed is this: God made us; invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself.

He Himself is the fuel our sprirts were designed to burn,

or the food our spirits were designed to feed on.

There is no other.

That is why it is just no good asking God to make up happy in our own way with out bothering about Him.

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself,

because it is not there.

There is no such thing.

C. S. Lewis

Thou hast made us for Thyself,

and the heart of man is restless

until it finds its rest in Thee.

St. Augustine