The Desire for Satisfaction

Have you ever walked out of a restaurant and smelled the savory offerings of a neighboring restaurant, only to think, “Ahh! that smells so good, I’d like to eat that”? Then, of course, you immediately recognize, “But, I just ate.”

That might be a key idea to marketing any product: Appeal to people’s senses so that they want what you have to offer whether they need it or not. It is the idea of creating the sense of a need and then proposing to offer a way to satisfy that perceived need.

When is the last time you saw a magazine ad, billboard or television commercial for fasting!?

Self-restraint just does not seem to be something that will bring happiness. Rather, happiness is to be found by engaging in all things fun and exciting and pleasurable and filling.

As kids my sister and I would ask mom if we could sprinkle salt into the palm of one hand and lick it up. Satisfying…. We had to ask permission because of what dad always said, “Too much of anything is bad for you.” Salt was his ’go-to’ example. “Our bodies need salt, but too much salt can harm your body.”

Yet, we craved salt as well as fruit flavored sugar balls (lemon drops and other sweets). We had little self-restraint. That was mom’s job.

As adults we all realize that it is no longer our moms’ job to force self-restraint on us. Yet, for the most part, our society is no friend to self-restraint.

Tolerance: Everyone, including yourself, should be able do as he/she pleases. For many people today, the greatest injustice is in keeping someone from doing what they want to do or telling them to do something they prefer not to do.

From sex to drugs and alcohol to entertainment, “Don’t tell me I can't have what I want.”

From vaccinations to taxes, “Don’t tell me what I have to do.”

Our society has created for itself an atmosphere of satisfaction that practically abhors restraint. We cannot seem to grasp the contradiction that so many of us live out in our day:

We eat to our satisfaction with the selection, quantity, quality we want, but destroy our health and find it difficult to function. We are not satisfied.

We buy, buy, buy; then, rent storage and buy more. We take out loans and work more. All of our stuff consumes our time and our thoughts. The momentary satisfaction fades long before we (or our kids) sell our stuff at huge discounts at an estate sale. We are not satisfied.

Our society is full of people who follow their fleshly desires for intimacy. (Wait! Let’s call it what it is...sexual pleasure.) Yet, our society is full of people lacking meaningful relationships. The momentary pleasure does not satisfy.

Money itself does not satisfy.

Self-control...

• It is a fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5;23). 
• It is a mark of spiritual maturity (1 Peter 1:6). 
• It is a matter of godliness (1 Timothy 4:7).

Would you like satisfaction that is not fleeting? Would you like to be truly filled in a way that has lasting results? It will require self-restraint regarding the dazzling promises of happiness in this life. It will require a different perception of what is good. It will require that you ignore your fleshly impulses; that you ignore the gluttonous marketing of our day. You must value true life.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they shall be satisfied.

—Matthew 5:6

Mark Stinnett

January 16, 2022