When you think about something satisfying, what comes to mind? Is it climbing into bed at night with fresh clean cozy sheets? Or your favorite meal cooked to perfection? What about something more long term? What satisfies you long term? If you are looking for it in anyone or anything but Jesus Christ, you are doing it wrong.
This was something that occurred to me recently as I was reflecting on my feelings towards my current job. Forgive me, I know I talk about my job a lot. It’s probably the biggest thing that brings out stressors in my life. It is the best place for God to teach me things. But I digress. This story starts the same way all of my stories about the Holy Spirit hitting my upside the head to get me to focus on what he is trying to teach me - lying in bed doing my nightly prayers. I was praying about my job, asking “Lord, I just want my job now to be like my first professional job - I knew exactly what was expected of me everyday and I knew I was super valuable and I never worried about not being or doing enough and everything was just…easy. That would make everything perfect. That is the thing I need to make my life complete”
And of course the Holy Spirit looks to me he says, “Okay, but remember at that first job you were also not satisfied because you did not get paid what you were worth, and you kept asking me to move you to another position to satisfy the need to be paid what you deserve? And then I brought you to another job where that was too tough but you got the money you wanted, and now you have the best of both worlds and you are still not happy. When will you be satisfied? When will you realize that Christ is the only thing that satisfies? He can fill every gap that you feel like your job is “lacking”. When will you be satisfied?”
That resonated with me greatly. Of course I was seeking for my job to be my ideal job - one that satisfies every need I am looking for and fits my perfect mold. And you know what job fills in that perfect mold? The answer is NONE, NO JOB. It doesn’t exist. We work in a broken world, so our jobs here will never fully satisfy. You may have a job or work in a field that you love and so you do feel satisfied in it (if you are, good for you), however, that still shouldn’t be the thing that we look to as a source for satisfaction.
Nothing in this world will really satisfy. Christ alone is the only thing that can fully and truly satisfy. “You open you hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Psalm 145:16 ESV). Looking for satisfaction in this world will only leave you empty inside. You will crave more and more of that thing or person, because you will never get enough to truly satisfy that desire. Or if we think we are “satisfied” we can become complacent and stop striving towards the things God has or us. However with Christ, you accept him into your heart once, and you never feel the need to go on searching ever again. Jesus satisfies everything you feel like you are missing. He covers every gap and every hole this broken world leaves in your heart.
A lot of the time, however, we forget this. We forget that true satisfaction can only be found in the arms of our Savior, and we start to drift towards other things we think we need. The Enemy tries to convince us by saying things like, “Yeah Christ is good and all, sure, but what about this thing or this person? I know you have always wanted something like that, how cool would it be if you had it? But of course you will also need that extra thing to make the original thing even better….Or how about that person? I know you have been wanting a friend/significant other like that person, so I think you will find everything you are looking for right there”. These lies are spewed out at us all the time, and we need to keep our eyes on Christ to remember what truly satisfies in this world.
Have you been searching for satisfaction in something or someone? Have you found satisfaction in Jesus at one point, but have since lost focus? I encourage you today to realign your focus right back on the only One who will ever satisfy, and allow him to fill in all the missing pieces in your heart and life. It will be sooooooo satisfying.
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