Jesus Satisfies

When the Rolling Stones hit "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" rocketed to number one on the charts in 1965, it struck a nerve which has continued to twang.  Few people have obtained the fame, money, and notoriety of the Rolling Stones, and they still play the same song at nearly every show to this day.  The issues the song speaks of - useless information on the radio, having the whitest shirts, and sexual frustration - can be interchanged with anything this world has to offer, but the grain of truth remains static:  this world cannot deliver on true, lasting, genuine satisfaction.

Reality never seems to scratch the itch of fantasy.  It always beckons alluringly, tantilisingly just out of reach.  The lie it perpetuates is if the conditions were altered slightly according to our desire, we would achieve satisfaction that seemingly eludes our grasp.  It is an exercise in futility because this world cannot possibly deliver all it promises without the negative side effects it doesn't talk about.  The bait always has a hook which makes us wish in retrospect we never went for it in the first place!  The pleasure, satisfaction, or enjoyment of an the activity, experience, or thing was supposed to provide never measures up and doesn't last.  It is not that our standards are too high, but it is an issue of this world and our hearts.  Think of it this way:  how many times have you obtained your desire only to realise it wasn't what you thought it would be?  Say you designed your house and even chose the colours and hardware, but in retrospect you would have changed something.  Or perhaps you chose a concrete finish and you weren't happy with how parts of it turned out.  Or there was more maintenance than your originally thought.  The list goes on and on!

This world has never delivered on any promise.  We can be "satisfied" with our purchase, in that we believe we have been provided a good product at a fair price.  We can experience something which we romanticise in our minds and at great expense we labour to experience it again.  No matter how hard we try, no matter the cost, it never delivers quite like we hoped it would.  All our problems would be solved with a different job, career, spouse, or if we won the lottery.  Yet even when we obtain our desire, dissatisfaction only seems to increase.  King Solomon was a man of wealth, fame, and power few have ever obtained.  He pointed out the objective reality in Ecclesiastes 5:10-11:  "He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. ¹¹ When goods increase, they increase who eat them; so what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes?"  This points to the heart problem of every person on earth.  The things we love cannot satisfy us, and do not profit.  We think perhaps if we were able to obtain more of the thing we love it would do the trick.  But it doesn't work, and it never has.  Yet like mythical lemmings or sheep without a shepherd, people keep futilely following after the same things thinking it will satisfy their desire for love, significance, acceptance, and satisfaction.

In our natural state, we all have idols we worship and value.  But no man can offer his life as a sacrifice to an idol out of a pure heart:  we always have an self-serving angle.  Even if we worship self and try to satisfy our every whim, we find ourselves increasing empty and dissatisfied.  All our consuming only consumes us.  We desire riches and wealth because of the things we could buy, the things money would allow us to do, or places we could go.  We pursue relationships with other people to obtain our own desires.  We want a particular career because of the money, status, or influence we would gain.  In many eastern cultures idols are worshiped to promote health, become wealthy, or to drive away evil.  People sacrifice not because they love the deities they worship or are loved by those same deities, but because they hope to somehow benefit themselves.  The world is packed with users:  people using others whilst being used themselves.  It provides a narcissistic recipe for envy, bitterness, cynicism, and disillusionment.  The world cannot deliver anything that truly satisfies.

Contrast the reality of this world's inability and futility to save or satisfy with the life of Jesus Christ freely offered to all who repent and trust in Him.  Proverbs 21:21 says, "He who follows righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness and honour."  1 Corinthians 1:30 tells us Jesus Christ has been made for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and wisdom.  As long as we are following the dictates of our deceitful hearts, we trust a blind guide which cannot lead us to what our souls long for.  Jesus Christ delivers exactly what we are looking for.  It is in following Jesus Christ our righteousness which enables all we who seek with their whole hearts to be satisfied - and more still!  Notice in the Proverbs passage how following righteousness and mercy opens the door to life, righteousness, and honour!  In Christ alone are all our desires perfectly satisfied.  Jesus said in John 10:10, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."  Jesus came to this world with the express purpose to provide abundant life.  It is a life obtained through being born again through faith in Jesus.  There is always more for us as we follow Jesus, a more abundant life by God's grace.

Would you use a delivery service which never actually delivered anything like you hoped it would?  Would you support a politician who has not delivered on a single promise ever?  Then why do we keep going back to this world in a vain attempt to satisfy our souls?  Look to God and trust in Him, for in Christ we find all our desire and more than we could have ever imagined.  I can't get no satisfaction, but Jesus gives satisfaction to all who repent and trust in Him!  You will never be satisfied apart from Jesus.  Will you receive Him today?