Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

What's the hymn that Mick Jagger sings? "I can't get no satisfaction.  'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try...."

Yep.  That should've been the song of the prodigal son (Luke 15).  He wasn't satisfied with his father and his home.  He asked for his inheritance from a not-dead-yet father.  But it turned out that didn't satisfy him either.  Nobody in the far-off country cared about him.  He was hungry; nobody fed him; nobody shared.  Nobody cared.  He couldn't even be satisfied by eating the pigs' slop. 

When we cannot find satisfaction, we search.  We might try different jobs, different toys, different friends, different homes, different who-knows-what.  We are constantly bouncing from one thing to the next: maybe the next place/thing/person will finally please us, satisfy us, fulfill us. 

But it never does.

We keep trying.  Even with [or because of?] the speed of new technology and the vast luxuries available to Americans, yet we keep finding that the Greatest New Thing (tooth whitener, iPhone, or gaming system) didn't bring us the pleasure it promised.  Even with [or because of?] the plethora of fun entertainment available, we are bored.  Even with [or because of?] the ease of casting off uncomfortable relationships and starting new ones, we cannot settle down in fulfilling relationships. 


Augustine said:
"The heart is restless
until it finds its rest in Thee."



Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none on earth I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  (Psalm 73)

Thou art the portion I have sought.
Thy precious blood my soul has bought.  (LSB 708)




Logically, it doesn't make sense to keep fighting against the one thing --the only thing-- that can give joy, satisfaction, fulfillment, love, pleasure.  And yet, we see the rebellion all the time.

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