Satisfaction part 4
I once preached a sermon about man's appetite. It was in the Gripped by Grace sermon series and what I THOUGHT I was going to preach about was how grace changes your appetite. But the day before I preached the sermon God revealed something to me. This is what He said, "Grace isn't about changing man's appetite. Man's appetite always has been, and always will be, the same. Grace is about SATISFYING man's appetite." And that was so powerful to me. Because it really brought our appetite into focus for me. I thought, "Man before the cross wanted to do whatever he could get away with." But the truth of the matter is: Man (before, during, and after the cross) wants to be loved. Period. That is our appetite. That is what we crave and what we desire. That's what we spend all of our lives trying to earn, because that is what we think we don't have. And that's why the tree of knoweldge of good and evil was so attractive to Eve. It made perfect sense: If I can get enough knoweldge about good and evil I can stop doing evil and I can do good. And if I do good I'll be accepted. If I act the right way I can earn Daddy's love. The problem, of course, with that thought process is that Daddy always has and always will love you. It has nothing to do with what you DO and everything to do with who you ARE. It's the unconditional love from a Father to His Son. It can't be earned. It must be received. And that's where the Holy Spirit comes in. The Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth--All truth being the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand. And when we know that we are loved--when we know the source of that love--then we can stop looking for love in all the wrong places. Then we can stop trying to earn a gift and we can rest in the arms of our loving heavenly Father. When we know that we are loved... we can be satisfied. We can stop running FROM God and start running TO God. We can stop jumping through religious hoops and start enjoying a relationship with our Creator; the lover of our souls. True satisfaction cannot come from anything external. It must come from within. The Kingdom of God is WITHIN you. Righteousness, peace, and joy are found in the Holy Spirit and we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Everything we need has already been given to us and already lives inside of us. So instead of robbing ourselves of what we already have, by "living" from a posture of lack and trying to get something that we think we DON'T have, we are now equipped and empowered to live Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life by letting Him live it in and through and as us! We are completely satisfied when we know and believe the love of Christ. When we know and believe that not only are we LOVED, but that we are LOVE. And that second part is vitally important because we truly experience God's love when we love one another. When we receive and release. That's satisfaction. That's why we're here. That's what it's all about. We are loved, and we are love, so now we can love. We are satisfied when we bring satisfaction to others. When we give (or share) what we've got. Who we are. Who HE is in and through and as us!