With work, school, and family, it can be easy to lose sight of God’s purpose for your life. You may feel like you are just going through the motions day after day. And if left unchecked, this feeling can leave you questioning your faith. When you feel empty as a Christian, what should you do?
When you feel empty as a Christian there are a couple of things that might be the problem. Life is busy and even believers can struggle at times. It is common to feel empty if you are going through stress, loneliness or other life circumstances.
In this article I’ll tell you what to do when you feel empty as a Christian. I’ve been feeling rather empty for quite some time now and I want to share what I am doing (and not doing) in an attempt to overcome this feeling of emptiness.
Pray for Open Eyes.
When you feel empty as a Christian, it’s important to remember that God is still there. He loves you and cares about your needs and wants. When the doubts creep in, turn to Him in prayer and ask for help. Ask Him to open your eyes so that you can see His presence around you—it may be something as simple as an encouraging email or text message from a friend who shares your faith, or perhaps it’s something larger like the generosity of others who contribute to charity work in your community.
Regardless of what happens during this time of confusion, keep praying for open eyes—and asking God for guidance on how best to serve others.”
Look for Signs of God’s Presence.
- To look for signs of God’s presence, start by asking yourself what you can do to make your time more meaningful.
- For example, if you feel like reading the Bible daily is not important to you anymore but this was a defining feature of your life as a Christian, then it might be time to consider changing up your routine. If you’re feeling like this, ask yourself what other activities are meaningful to you and determine if there is one or two things that would help bring the joy back into your life as a Christian.
- You’ll know it when you see it!
Practice Gratitude.
When you’re feeling empty, it can be difficult to feel thankful for the things around you. But gratitude is an important part of living a healthy life. There are many ways to practice gratitude and these habits will help you start feeling more fulfilled in your Christian faith:
- Don’t compare yourself to others – Instead of comparing yourself against those who seem better off than you, focus on the blessings you have and be thankful for them. For example, if they have more money than you do, remember that they may not have as much time or energy as they would like because of their busy schedule; or if they seem healthier than someone else in your church group, remember that there could be some serious medical issues going on behind closed doors causing them to look so unhealthy; or even if someone else has a nicer house than yours does but doesn’t treat people with respect (or vice versa), remind yourself that this isn’t about material possessions but rather how we treat one another in person and online (and also how we talk about God).
Surrender Your Life to God.
The first step to feeling full as a Christian is to surrender your life to God. Surrender doesn’t mean giving up on the things you want and need in life, it means trusting God with them.
If you’ve been living your life by your own rules, or if you’ve been trying to do things on your own, surrendering means letting go of that control and allowing God’s plan for your life take precedence over yours.
[Try this prayer if you’re struggling with surrendering: “Lord God, help me learn how to trust you with all my heart.”]
Spend Time with Your Family, Friends, and Community.
Spending time with your family, friends and community is one of the best ways to fight back against feeling empty as a Christian. You can do this in many ways:
- Going out for coffee or lunch with them (or any other activity that involves spending time together).
- Having a weekly movie or game night at your house (or theirs).
- Volunteering at an organization where you feel like you’re making an impact on others’ lives or helping people who need it most.
Read the Bible.
The Bible is the word of God. It contains stories and parables that teach us about who God is, what he has done for us, and how we can live out our faith in him. The Bible also contains letters from people throughout history who were trying to figure out what life was all about as they struggled with their own questions and problems. Reading the Bible can help you know more about yourself and your faith. You might read a story in the Bible and see yourself or someone close to you in it; or maybe something that happens in a story will resonate with something that’s happening right now in your life; or perhaps reading a letter will give you perspective on how you want to live today!
Reading through this letter once won’t be enough—you need to keep coming back again and again until it really sinks in!
Seek Discipline and Rest in Your Routines.
When you feel empty as a Christian, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to be anything other than what God created you to be.
It’s also important to seek discipline and rest in your routines. You can’t do all the things every day or all of the time, but if we are not living out our faith in Christ (and doing so consistently), then we will struggle to know who He has called us to be.
When you feel empty as a Christian, it’s helpful for me personally when I hear about others who are experiencing similar struggles and challenges as I am going through myself. When I find people who are facing these same sorts of questions about their faith, it helps me see that there is hope even when life doesn’t seem like there’s any hope left at all!
Realize It’s Okay to Feel Empty Sometimes; See What You Can Do About It Instead of Blaming Yourself.
There are many reasons why you might feel empty. Maybe you’re dealing with grief, stress or conflict in your relationships. Maybe you have a problem in your life that is out of control, and it’s not going away.
Whatever the cause for feeling empty as a Christian, realize that it’s okay to be empty sometimes—it’s part of being human. The key is not to let your emptiness define who you are or what kind of person you want to be. Instead, use it as an opportunity to look at yourself honestly and figure out what else needs attention in order for things in your life to improve. It may help if we think about our feelings as being like a bucket: the more water goes into it (the more problems we face), then less room there is left inside until eventually everything gets full up enough so that nothing else can go into it anymore; hence feeling “empty” instead of overflowing with joy!
Conclusion
So, how do we deal with feeling empty? My first piece of advice is to make sure you’re taking care of your spiritual needs as a Christian. Make time to pray throughout the day and read your Bible every morning. When you start to feel better spiritually, you will also start to feel better emotionally and physically. Second, don’t be afraid to ask for help or talk about how you are feeling with someone who is close enough that they can understand what’s going on inside of you. Thirdly, take some time each week to enjoy yourself; whether it be doing something creative like painting or relaxing by going for a walk in nature. Finally, if these things don’t work for any reason then I would seriously consider talking about depression with your doctor so that he can prescribe medication as needed.