Lasting Satisfaction
I’m not sure about you, but I am an equal-opportunity late-night snacker. It is not a great habit, I know. It is particularly unhelpful because no matter what I snack on, it never seems to actually satisfy. Here is how it typically goes. After all of the kids are in bed, and I’ve had a chance to unwind and relax for a few minutes, I think to myself, something sweet sounds really good. So I go venturing for the right sweet treat that will satisfy my craving. My weakness is always for something chocolate. Cookies, cake, and brownies are all up my alley. I begin with a reasonable portion for a 10 pm snack. Then, before I am done with the sweet thing, I think to myself, oh, something spicy/salty would really hit the spot. If you are getting the picture here, what happens is this cycle of a series of small snacks rotating between sweet and salty/spicy. One small snack ends up being a “not so small” snack in the end. And worse yet, I end up not truly being satisfied. Frankly, I am growing in my discipline to remember the eventual outcome of not being satisfied and just not eating a late-night snack altogether. Full disclosure, a battle that is not easy to win.
Maybe it is a late-night snack, a new car, a relationship, a job, or any other thing that you thought would bring you satisfaction, and once you acquired it, you found it didn’t. More completely, if you linger there for a while and really ponder on why it left you unsatisfied, you begin to realize it never was able to satisfy you. You and I were asking something to a job it was never designed to do, and it let us down. We’ve all been there. And, if we aren’t careful and diligent, we will be there again and again and again. Caught in a cycle that is not only unfulfilling but can become disenfranchising.
Why is this?
Well, the Scriptures speak to it in both strikingly simple terms and in unfolding complexity. The simple truth that the Bible offers us is that we, as humans, are wired for glory and delight, but in our sin, we perpetually look inward for the experience of those. It is what caused the fall in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve bought into a lie that gave credence to a disordered desire, and that disordered desire gave birth to sin. In the end, the thing that they thought would bring them lasting satisfaction brought disappointment, dysfunction, and death. Over and over again, the Bible reminds us in simple terms that satisfaction cannot be found in ourselves. The longer complexity of the Bible is that it unfolds that simple truth in the lives and examples of those contained in its pages. Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, David, the disciples, etc. In their stories, we see the reality of humanity’s struggle to experience lasting satisfaction. The good news is that the Bible doesn’t merely leave us with the problem of the human condition; it points us to the fulfillment of the human condition. Again, ironically so, that fulfillment or flourishing is not found inside of man but outside of himself. It is found in the Lord. And graciously, God made himself fully known through his Son, Jesus.
What are we to do about it?
Again, the Bible is clear and simple, trust in the Lord and follow him. It is also complex in that it shows us the struggle and diligence that trusting and following requires. Dallas Willard speaks of this struggle when he writes,
“The wisdom of the Proverbs tells us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don’t place your faith in your own understanding. Acknowledge God in all you do, and he will smooth your pathway. Don’t think you have got it figured out” (3:5-7). And again: “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for what is in your heart will determine what your life amounts to” (4:23). At the center of care for the heart is the love of God. This must be the joyful aim of our life. That is why Jesus, underlining the deep understanding of life worked out through the Jewish experience, stated that the first commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). This is a command. It is something we are to do, and something we can do. We will learn how to do it if we intend to do it. God will help us, and we will find a way.”[1]
Finding and experiencing lasting satisfaction comes through the Lord. Our joyful task is to walk with the Lord and experience that satisfaction day by day as he forms us more and more into the image of his Son. As Willard notes, as we intentionally pursue the love of God, God will meet us and help us. As the author of the letter to the Hebrews writes, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:1-2)
Jesus and only Jesus offers lasting satisfaction. Don’t go looking for it where it can’t be found.
[1] Dallas Willard, The Great Omission. (p.99-100)