Satisfaction, the contemporary philosopher Mick Jagger reminds us, is hard to find. Our culture has become the unsatisfied culture, an insatiable culture. Faced with more information than ever before, we hunger for it like animals: news and “news” (by which I mean gossip). With more options for entertainment than ever before, we grow bored and long for the next thing. With technology advancing at an astonishing, even alarming, rate, we push further and further, with progress the only real goal. How does one find and maintain some kind of satisfaction? In other words, where could I point and say to Mr. Jagger, “There, there is satisfaction”?
I found part of the answer in a Christianity Today article.
I was reading ChristianityToday.com’s interview with Bob Roberts about his “Glocal Church Ministry” ideas, and the following passage leapt out at me:
I was walking in a pasture behind my house one day. A pastor not far from me had had affairs with five women; he crashed and burned. Another guy north of me had a megachurch, but he was going to the pen for embezzlement. I told God, “God, I’ve got my pants on. I’ve got my hands out of the offering plate. You’ve got these guys over here doing all this stuff. Why aren’t you blessing me?”
All of a sudden this little question came to my mind: When will Jesus be enough for you? Sometimes, I think that’s when I became a Christian.
While Roberts has his ministry and church in mind, I’ve had the same thought in my mind recently. When will I be satisfied with Jesus? A hymn we sing in church, rearranged a bit for modern ears, has recently brought it home that much more forcefully. The lyrics are over 100 years old, and they remind me how powerful a hymn can be:
1 All my life long I had panted
For a draught from some cool spring,
That I hoped would quench the burning
Of the thirst I felt within.Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings;
Through His life I now am saved.2 Feeding on the husks around me,
Till my strength was almost gone,
Longed my soul for something better,
Only still to hunger on.3 Poor I was, and sought for riches,
Something that would satisfy,
But the dust I gathered round me
Only mocked my soul’s sad cry.4 Well of water, ever springing,
Bread of life, so rich and free,
Untold wealth that never faileth,
My Redeemer is to me.
The chorus in particular cuts me to the quick. Faith is not about feeling, I know, but the last time we sang that song, I was struck by how seldom I feel overwhelmed by not just His grace but His person. “Hallelujah! I have found Him…” It’s the hymnal’s–indeed, Christianity’s–answer to U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” which is an unofficial anthem for postmodern believers. Remember the last verse?
I believe in the Kingdom Come
When all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well, yes I’m still runningYou broke the bonds
And you loosened the chains
Carried the cross
Of all my shame
all my shame
You know I believe itBut I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
I spent years looking for something more: at one time, it was experience; later, knowledge; later still, certainty. For perhaps the first time in my life, I am deeply satisfied by Christ Himself.
Cameron | 03-Aug-07 at 6:34 am | Permalink
That U2 song always kind of bothered me. I remember singing it with the other Young Life leaders, and a group of kids, thinking about how we all still haven’t found whatever it was we sought–even though we had found Christ, many of us, and life everlasting. It certainly suggests that the fullness of the Gospel isn’t so full after all.
I love St. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians:
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Filled with all the fullness of God…may we all be so.
Great post, Jamie. Thanks.
Jamie Cain | 03-Aug-07 at 6:42 am | Permalink
Thanks for the comment, Cam. I’ve loved that Ephesians quote too…”filled with all the fullness of God.” Awesome.
Shane Ammons | 03-Aug-07 at 10:47 am | Permalink
Jamie,
Great post bro. To make the effects of that hymn even greater, the actual lyrics to the chorus are, “Hallelujah, He has found me!” What a picture of how He has reached down, condescended if you will, to us that we might receive the satisfaction that He longs to give us. In some senses, we are not required to chase the satisfaction (in some senses we are - the whole throwing off everything that hinders . . .and running the race marked out for us) He gives it to us. I think most of the time, my pursuit looks more like a hamster on a wheel than a long distance champion! What is most ironic to me is that the race we are to run, the fight we are to fight, is the one to stay on our knees in wonder. It is most difficult to sit at His feet and not want to get up and try to make things better, to try to become a better follower to try to initiate some set of circumstances that will help me know Him better. May we drink from the well of water that is ever springing.
shane
Jamie Cain | 03-Aug-07 at 11:10 am | Permalink
Where did you see that lyric? I guess that might be one of the modernization/Calvinization of the lyrics. It’s a good change.
Shane Ammons | 07-Aug-07 at 7:47 am | Permalink
I thought about that as i was cutting grass later that day. I was wondering if maybe you had stumbled onto the original version of the lyrics and what we sing at Ivy Creek was an updated version. So, my post should no longer read, the “actual” lyrics, but the “updated” lyrics. It would be great if you could edit that so i don’t seem so arrogant! I wish we could do that with everything in life - would be kind of cool.