LASTING SATISFACTION

                One of the things I like about baseball is that, no matter what the outcome, there is always another game tomorrow. Unlike football, where you have to wait for a whole week for the next game. The team that I follow happens to be playing quite well right now. They have won six games in a row and have taken over first place in their division. They won a game on the west coast late last night, which I discovered as I got up this morning. But there is a significant drawback in baseball. The thrill of victory is very temporary, because, even if you won the game last night, there is another game to play tonight.

                Whatever our field of endeavor, we all like to succeed. But in this life, all of our successes are only temporary. Each “victory” is followed by another challenge, which must be met. The satisfaction that we get from being successful is tempered by the need to do it again and again and again. Each new challenge holds the potential for failure, so we cannot bask in the glow of our success for very long. In fact, success itself can be a source of discouragement. Many who have strived toward some high goal, and have achieved it, are left with a hollow feeling. Is that all there is?

                We do not find lasting satisfaction in the things of this world, because we were not created for this world. This world is only a signpost to eternity. To use a baseball analogy, this life is only Spring Training for the regular season. Spring Training is a time filled with hope and anticipation, but nobody is satisfied with a successful Spring Training. They all see it only as a spring board to the Big Leagues. All the experiences that we have in this life are designed to increase our longing for God. If we look for ultimate meaning in the experiences of life, we will never discover true, lasting satisfaction.

                Solomon expressed this truth, in rather dark terms, in the book of Ecclesiastes. Throughout the book, he describes his attempts to discover true satisfaction from the things of this world. In the end, he concluded that all was vanity, a chasing after the wind. The reason for this is that people are looking for their satisfaction in the wrong place. In Ecclesiastes 3:11, Solomon zeros in on the source of lasting satisfaction. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. God has placed a longing into every person’s heart for Himself. A person can never find lasting satisfaction in life until he connects with God, through Jesus Christ.

                Jesus is the ultimate source of our satisfaction. In Christ, we know that, no matter how many failures or setbacks we face, we have already won the ultimate victory. Jesus minimizes the blow of our failures and enhances the joy of our successes. Paul transformed the way people viewed their lives when he wrote to those in the church we were slaves.  Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. Ephesians 6:5-8

                In our country today, no one is a slave, but sometimes being an employee can feel that way. Many people find their work environment discouraging. They feel underappreciated and taken for granted. They are looking for a sense of satisfaction from their job, and not finding it. But if we all took Paul’s words to heart, it could transform us and our work environment. We would stop looking to others for our sense of satisfaction and look to Christ.

                We will never find lasting satisfaction from the things of this world. At best, we can have a temporary taste that will quickly fade. But in Christ, we can find real satisfaction. We can know that our lives matter and that what we do counts for eternity. The rewards that we will receive from Christ can never be taken away from us. We are secure in Him, so we can face any challenge the world may throw at us with an internal strength and confidence that comes from the Lord.

                2 Corinthians 4:6-9,16-18

    For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

    But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

    Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.