[I’ll be away from the Internet for a few days, so I’ll share with you some of the articles I’ve written for Heartlight magazine. These articles also ran on theHopeForLife.org website, which is a ministry of Herald of Truth.]

You can learn a lot about the world by looking at the junk mail folder on your computer. You’ll find offers of wealth, offers of health, offers of forbidden pleasures. It’s a world of illusion, spinning fantasies before your eyes of increased wealth, of increased sexual prowess, of unheard-of bargains and opportunities. Spam almost seems too nice of a term for it; it’s evil come calling, sin just a mouse click away. At best, it’s an annoyance. At worst, it’s an open door to a world of problems.
Some experts say that these unwanted messages may someday choke the Internet to death, making it virtually unusable. Those of us who use e-mail a lot must work with spam blockers and spam filters, running the risk of missing valid messages as we wade through a swamp of junk. I don’t know anyone who likes getting junk messages. So why do they keep coming?

Because somebody out there gets taken in. Someone lets greed overpower them, buying that illegal software or falling for that scam message that offers them millions of dollars for no work at all. Someone else gets deceived by the message that love can be found through physical enhancements and that the necessary enhancements are available in that pill, that cream or that herbal supplement. Others are fooled by voyeuristic desires, tempted by offers of pornographic material.

The sad thing is that these people don’t realize that they’re going about it all wrong. They are trying to fill a spiritual void with physical things. They need things like love, companionship, and meaning in their lives, none of which can be found in junk messages. Even though they don’t realize it and would probably deny it, what they crave above all is God.

In the book of Psalms, the Bible says: “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalms 37:4). It’s easy to focus on the second part of that verse and miss the whole message. It’s saying that when we realize that our greatest desire should be God, when we make Him our greatest delight, then all of the other things that we’ve been longing for will be taken care of. Some will be granted to us, others will no longer seem desirable. But only if we take care of that one need that every man has — the need for a relationship with God.

Happiness isn’t found in your e-mail. Lasting happiness, the kind that reaches to the very core of our being, is found only in God.