The Kansas City Chiefs newest running back, Nathan Carter, wants people to know that only God can sustain and fulfill all their needs.
In a recent Instagram post, the athlete shared a quote from Blaise Pascal, a 17th-century French mathematician, physicist, religious philosopher, and master of prose.
“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ,” Pascal said.
Carter followed that with Psalm 16:2 and 4a.
“I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have nothing good besides you.’…The sorrows of those who take another god for themselves will multiply,” the verses read.
“We were created for life and relationship with God. We are made in His image and for His purpose,” Carter reflected. “The root problem of humanity is that when image-bearers of God try to find their image in gods that fail. We decide to live a life of rebellion without God; therefore, we chase lesser gods that only lead us into a life of despair.”
He explained that we often try to fill that “God-sized hole” in our hearts with things like prosperity, pleasure and power.
“After we have given our entire allegiance to these false gods, we eventually realize that they are not solutions to our problems; they are amplifiers that only deepen the sorrow and emptiness we feel,” Carter wrote.
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He turned to King David’s example. He had everything man could want: “wealth, power, influence, security.”
“And yet he makes this declaration and says, ‘I have nothing good besides you.’ It wasn’t that David didn’t have earthly abundance,” Carter said. “It was that he found those incomparable to knowing God.”
David eventually came to the realization that continues to change lives today: “The Lord is enough.”
“It is in Christ that we can experience an abundance of joy just with His presence, which is always with us,” Carter declared. “We can obtain security in this life that is not dependent on our circumstances, but dependent on His promises. We can obtain the eternal pleasures that He has to offer and that He freely gives. In Christ, we are invited to embrace the wonders of this life that God has given to us to enjoy.”
“But if you have not lived for Christ, then you have not yet experienced the wonders that He has to offer, nor can you fathom the joy that awaits,” he continued.
“The more we live for Christ, the more we realize He is all we need. The more we turn our eyes to Christ, the gods of this world will become distasteful, and their lure will be no more,” Carter concluded. “We will discover the deepest joys and greatest comforts that are only to be found in God. And when we think we have discovered all there is, we will realize we have barely scratched the surface and that there is so much more Christ has.”
What a powerful reminder that Christ is all we need.
The Chiefs face off against the Denver Broncos at 7:15 p.m. CDT on Monday, Sept. 14.
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