“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David. (Isaiah 55:1-3, ESV)
Have you ever been to a buffet restaurant before? Come on. Don't lie. You eat an obscene amount of food, leave with a sense of regret/repentance for your gluttony, and then 2 hours later.....you're hungry again. Wait! What! What happened to that plate of chicken and broccoli? the orange chicken? the shrimp pasta? the wonton soup? the ...okay, you get the point.
The food satisfied, but only for a moment.
I'm convinced that each and every person is looking for satisfaction. You can quote me me on that. We are all looking to fill ourselves with something, or someone. Even if you don't necessarily feel the literal "void" of dissatisfaction, if you take a moment and consider your life decisions, you'll see that they were made to satisfy an unmet desire.
Before coming to Christ, I had no idea I was dissatisfied. I was fine with my life as long as everyone was fine with me. But, there's the problem. That's where I was dissatisfied. I kept looking to other people:family, friends, strangers... to satisfy me. As long as they thought I was "nice" and "a good person", then I was satisfied. But, if there was ever an altercation/someone didn't like me...the void of dissatisfaction with my identity became apparent.
Right now, some of you are trying to satisfy yourself with a guy/girl, or education & success, or food, or beauty & fitness, or serving others, or ___________. But I can assure you, that the satisfaction that comes from these things will only be temporary. It wont last forever. It is not eternal.
Don't get me wrong here. These things are great, and not inherently wrong. I love relationships. Education is a beautiful thing. Food....c'mon, need I explain myself? etc. But the fact is that until we come to know Jesus Christ, and look to Him as our complete source of satisfaction, we will always come up empty.
In John 4, Jesus encounters a Samarian woman at the well. He engages in a conversation with her, and He quickly addresses her dissatisfaction. You see, not only was this woman socially ostracized, but she also kept looking for her identity in various relationships with men. She had 5 ex-husbands, and the man she was living with was not her husband. This woman came to the well to fill her water jar. She came, once again, to the source to be satisfied. Here is a snippet of the conversation between her and Jesus:
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water."
Jesus was inviting this woman to feast of Him. To drink of Him. To find her complete satisfaction in who He is! At the end of their encounter, when the woman finally realizes that Jesus is the Messiah, she leaves her water jar. Can you believe that? The very purpose for which she came to the well was completely abandoned when she encountered the One who truly satisfies.
Guys, this is what we were created to do. To find our complete satisfaction in God, and in turn, bring glory to His name.
Food for thought (get it? lol):
Psalm 107:9 For he satisfies the longing soul,
and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
The food satisfied, but only for a moment.
I'm convinced that each and every person is looking for satisfaction. You can quote me me on that. We are all looking to fill ourselves with something, or someone. Even if you don't necessarily feel the literal "void" of dissatisfaction, if you take a moment and consider your life decisions, you'll see that they were made to satisfy an unmet desire.
Before coming to Christ, I had no idea I was dissatisfied. I was fine with my life as long as everyone was fine with me. But, there's the problem. That's where I was dissatisfied. I kept looking to other people:family, friends, strangers... to satisfy me. As long as they thought I was "nice" and "a good person", then I was satisfied. But, if there was ever an altercation/someone didn't like me...the void of dissatisfaction with my identity became apparent.
Right now, some of you are trying to satisfy yourself with a guy/girl, or education & success, or food, or beauty & fitness, or serving others, or ___________. But I can assure you, that the satisfaction that comes from these things will only be temporary. It wont last forever. It is not eternal.
Don't get me wrong here. These things are great, and not inherently wrong. I love relationships. Education is a beautiful thing. Food....c'mon, need I explain myself? etc. But the fact is that until we come to know Jesus Christ, and look to Him as our complete source of satisfaction, we will always come up empty.
In John 4, Jesus encounters a Samarian woman at the well. He engages in a conversation with her, and He quickly addresses her dissatisfaction. You see, not only was this woman socially ostracized, but she also kept looking for her identity in various relationships with men. She had 5 ex-husbands, and the man she was living with was not her husband. This woman came to the well to fill her water jar. She came, once again, to the source to be satisfied. Here is a snippet of the conversation between her and Jesus:
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water."
Jesus was inviting this woman to feast of Him. To drink of Him. To find her complete satisfaction in who He is! At the end of their encounter, when the woman finally realizes that Jesus is the Messiah, she leaves her water jar. Can you believe that? The very purpose for which she came to the well was completely abandoned when she encountered the One who truly satisfies.
Guys, this is what we were created to do. To find our complete satisfaction in God, and in turn, bring glory to His name.
Food for thought (get it? lol):
Psalm 107:9 For he satisfies the longing soul,
and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
Jeremiah 2:13 "for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water."
John 6:35 "Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
Love it!
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