I Can't Get No Satisfaction

I Can't Get No Satisfaction

       The Bible is a funny book. The words don't say safely on the page where I can objectively critique them. They keep trying to get inside and change me.

       I was reading the part in Matthew when Jesus says that if we lose our lives, we get them, and if we try to keep our lives we lose them (Mt 16:24-28). Reading this passage really scared me today, so I was praying about why that was. I don't want to give up my life because, although it's not great, I think it's all right. Jesus says that what he offers is better than the whole world, but believing that means admitting that the whole world isn't where it's at. And if that's true, consistent logic demands acknowledging that nothing is this world is good enough to bring me lasting happiness. Which means that I can never be satisfied with life in this world.

       So then, I was wondering. If it's not this world that satisfies, what does and how can I get it? So, I did a short word study on satisfy, and this verse was the first one I found: "Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied..." (Is 53:11) He is Jesus. He didn't have anguish, but he chose to for me. And in that midst of that anguish, he "saw," and he was satisfied. What did he see? He saw me. He had satisfaction in the midst of anguish because it meant he got to be with me. 

      That threw my whole satisfaction paradigm out the window. It's not about me being satisfied. It's all about the fact that Jesus was. I can't even conceive all of the ramifications of that. I gave Jesus a reason to live. I gave him hope and joy in the midst of trial.  It's not just about me finding satisfaction, purpose, and joy in God. It's also about Him having found all that in me.