Satisfaction part 5
A job well done can give a strong sense of satisfaction. Or, as we put it when I worked for the city, "filling up the pride meter." A lot of our sense of self-worth comes from what we do. We define ourselves by our jobs. And seemingly there is some Scripture to back this up. For example, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called" (Ephesians 4:1). Or, "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). So there IS an aspect of what I like to call, "taking care of business." But, guys, this isn't where our satisfaction comes from. The job that was well done that gives us true satisfaction... is the work that Christ did (both for us and as us) on the cross! Jesus said, "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; not yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" (Matthew 6:25). And at the end of the day, I think we understand this. No matter how much "stuff" we accumulate, we're never really satisfied. It never fills that God-shaped, love-shaped hole. There's always, "one thing we lack." Because as hard as we try to fill that hole with everything and anything else... a love-shaped hole can only be filled with love. Nothing else fits. Nothing else satisfies. And it's only when we stop trying to define ourselves by what we do that we can rest in who we are--who HE is in and through and as us. 2 Timothy 1:8-9 says it like this, "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." See, it's nothing about us and everything about Him. HE saved us. HE called us. It is the power of God that works in us both to will and to do of HIS good pleasure. We can't satisfy God, and we can't satisfy ourselves with our works. Can't be done. Because it's not what you DO that pleases God. It's who you are! And because of who you are (His beloved Son) He IS well pleased with you. You can't earn Daddy's love because He always has and always will love you. What you CAN do is stop trying to satisfy Him (and yourself) with works, or with stuff. What you CAN do is rest in His finished work and find satisfaction in His unrelenting, unstoppable, undeniable, unconditional love for you. You can stop trying to get something you already have and you can start receiving and releasing it instead. You can stop working to try to earn a gift (that has already been given) and you can open that bad boy up and start enjoying it. You can find satisfaction at the source, when you understand what WILL satisfy you. And, in a Word, that's called love. God is love.