Saturday, February 04, 2006

Competing with satisfaction

Yesterday, I was talking to an army friend of mine who backslided last year trying to convince him to return to going to church. Sadly, he was a victim of one of those statistics oriented churches who care not for the souls that are saved and only care about the numbers that join their ranks. He was sick of being pressured by growth targets and called it quits some time last year.

A bunch of my Christian commando friends have been praying for him and talking to him making a huge effort to convince him that not all churches are like that. But when I was talking to him yesterday I noticed I hit a huge brick wall, its called "satisfaction". He said that he was satisfied with the way things are now. So how do you convince someone who is so contented with life that he needs God? Because from his perspective of life he does not need anything, everything he needs he already has and God is just excess baggage and that is exactly the problem.

Smith Wigglesworth said, "do not be satisfied with a life that is not wholly swallowed up in God." What this implies is that satisfaction is a choice and not some holy grail you need to find. So perhaps my friend is setting his sights a bit low when it comes to being contented. Therefore I encourage everybody to aim high and find a life filled with satisfaction and contentment through our Lord Jesus Christ, worldly satisfaction is an illusion that will be shattered when Christ comes again.

And as for my friend, I hope you will join me in praying for him. I don't think I should give up just yet.

1 comment:

Rex said...

this satisfaction is more of a numbness then a true filling or a becoming of what we are supposed to be... it's not a true sastisfaction at all, just an illusion that can be maintained, if only barely...

for now.