I Can't Get No Satisfaction

Written in part on Saturday, January 22^nd, 2011

I just finished an enormous hamburger from a well-known fast food chain conveniently located one block from my home. Before living in such close proximity to said fast food chain, it was my favorite place to get a bite on the go. Now, after four years of taking advantage of it’s drive thru temptations -not so much. Now it is the, “I don’t have the time or energy to feed my poor family anything but their charbroiled convenience.” It has become the last resort.

So today with the first week of a new semester coming to an end and a weeks worth of housework lurking in every room, a last resort effort was in order. The burger was edible, but not delicious not even good really and yet I continued to consume it with much vigor. Even after my stomach was full to the point of excess I continued to eat. I was on a mission. I was searching for one good bite - one with just the right blend off all the toppings; one good ending that would make those calories worth the effort, but it never came. I reached the end of the oversized letdown and felt unsatisfied. Oh I was stuffed to the point of sickness, but I was still empty. The burger had met my physical need, but it had not offered me anything good. That’s a lot of pressure for a burger right?

How many times have I continued down a path of indulgence or destruction, hoping that the next turn would bring some sort of goodness? In the past it looked like one more drink hoping it would distract me from whatever issue I was hoping to avoid, or the belief that another doomed relationship would finally meet my need to belong. These days the compromises are much more subtle. Hours spent surfing the entertainment pages, finding them much less convicting than Scripture or the allowance of one little sin to remain unchecked, because it makes my life more convenient. The extremes have changed but the issue is the same. Seeking to find goodness, satisfaction, or meaning in anything other than Jesus will always leave me feeling less than satisfied.

I have known the fulfilling, purposeful message of Jesus for most of my life. In fact, I don’t remember life before Him, yet time and again I have sought my own path and inevitably discovered that it left me broken and empty pleading for mercy. Please know that I walked many of those journeys while simultaneously traipsing up and down the halls of a church building. The sins of pride, judgment, deceit, wrath, and envy lead to places as dark as the sins of debauchery, drunkenness, and drugs, and they are much easier to hide. One thing I’m certain of now more than ever, however, is that there is no road so long, bumpy, or broken that it doesn’t have a detour leading directly to the foot of the cross. God is not only a God of second chances, but also third, fourth, fifth…

If you have found yourself on some treacherous, sin-laden terrain, please sweet sister know that others have stumbled down those roads before you. Know that there is redemption in the heart of your Jesus who loves you. Like the quest for one satisfying bite that never came, is the quest for meaning, peace, purpose, or joy in a life of continual, deliberate sin. Don’t take another bite. Don’t waste another moment, before you seek to be satisfied by the only One capable of handling the pressure.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 Peter 1:3-8 (The Message)

 3-5 What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all—life healed and whole. 6-7 I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. 8-9 You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation.

With much love,

Tonya