SATISFACTION
14th Dec 2016
This is the time of the year when all the adverts on TV and all the build up to Christmas is focussed on making us want something new or better. It is intended that we should be dissatisfied with what we have and what we are. However, God’s desire for each one of us is that we should not be tossed around by all this activity but know, deep peace, contentment and satisfaction.
We seem to feel that the more we pay the better it will be. On our recent visit to New Zealand, one of the best meals we had were the mussels we gathered on the beach at low tide. As we had walked along the sands we noticed the rocks just full of the green lipped mussels and couldn’t wait for the tide to go out so we could have our ‘meal for free’.
Eating and drinking too much is not a blessing and leaves us wishing we had been more self-controlled. When Jesus fed the 5000 with a simple meal of bread and fish, it says in Luke 9:17, “They all ate and were satisfied.”
God also wants us to find satisfaction in our relationship with Him. The great message of Christmas is “Peace among men in whom he is well pleased.” God loves us and values our friendship and wants to fill our hearts with His presence during this festive time, so that the greatest satisfaction is being close to Him.
God wants us to not only be in harmony and unity with him, but to love and value our families. This is the time of the year of the maximum family breakdown, but for those of us who love Jesus and place Him at the centre of our celebrations, it should be a time of joy and harmony.
I want my festivities to be marked by ‘satisfaction’ that I have a God who loves and cares, I have a loving family and I have sufficient for all my needs. But, I also want to reach out practically and with the love of Jesus to others who lack all those things.
by Charles Sibthorpe
