Are you satisfied with your life? Are you content with what you have? Are all the blessings and gifts God has given you enough? As I have been reading John Piper's book Desiring God, I have been forced to ask myself these questions. He shared something by C. S. Lewis under a section titled "We Are Far Too Easily Pleased" while speaking on the matter of worship. In a sense, in that statement he's saying, "You are settling for too little; what you have is not enough; how can you be satisfied and content with what you have?" Doesn't that sound horribly selfish, unthankful, unholy, ungodly, and unrighteous? At first glance, yes, it does. But as I read this portion, I was inspired but what he had to say and I felt the longing to share it.
"If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that the Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."
--C. S. Lewis
In response to this, here is what Piper says:
"That's it! The enemy of worship is not that our desire for pleasure is too strong, but too weak! We have settled for a home, a family, a few friends, a job, a televison, a microwave oven, an occasional night out, a yearly vacation, and perhaps a new personal computer. We have accustomed ourselves to such meager, short-lived pleasures that our capacity for joy has shriveled. And so our worship has shriveled. Many can scarcely imagine what is meant by "a holiday at the sea"--worshipping the living God!"
--John Piper, Desiring God
What I hear Lewis and Piper saying here is that man is content with the pleasures this world has to offer that only provide temporary satisfaction and fail to delight in God at whose right hand are pleasures evermore. We fail to delight ourselves in the Lord--which we are commanded to do--and rather seek the things in this world that will all be gone when we die.
Do you long and thirst after the living God? Is your treasure found in Him? Has He captivated your heart that you just can't get enough of what He has to offer? Is He your desire and delight, the source of your joy? Or are you still shopping around for the next new thing, trying to find fulfillment in the newest gadget, keeping up with the latest fashions, a relationship, having the perfect body, and all other things that satisfy temporarily and only leave you feeling empty and discontent again?
The truth is, there is so much more to be had, and that we can claim it. God offers us Himself, and He alone can fully satisfy our longings and desires.
