Satisfaction (or Why can't I just be happy with what I have?)

I am a bit of a techie, and some, my family, would say I love gadgets. Last month, Apple made a valiant effort to make me want a new gadget - the iPad Air 2. I currently have an iPad 3, and it does what I need it to do, but after watching Apple's announcement, I seem to have trouble being satisfied with a working iPad 3. As a matter of fact, I have spent a significant amount of time trying to justify purchasing it. My latest internal rationale is that my wife's iPad 2 is having trouble maintaining adequate battery life, so I should give her my iPad 3 and buy a new one as a gesture of sacrifice and love. Now that I've written it down, it seems like an absurd and silly argument. If I was truly sacrificial I would buy her the new iPad, right? It's sad, but it seems that I let myself get bombarded with such temptations on a daily basis as there is always something new or improved that people tell me I just have to have. Will I buy a new iPad? Well, that's really a discussion I have to have with my wife, not the Internet.

Maybe you're struggling with the same issue that I am - being satisfied. When is enough, enough? When does what we need become the measure of our life as opposed to what we want? As we head into the retail sales frenzy of the holidays, perhaps it's time to look at the bigger issue of satisfaction.

The dictionary (www.dictionary.com) defines satisfaction as "an act of satisfying; fulfillment; gratification.; the state of being satisfied; contentment. and the cause or means of being satisfied."

In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus gives us some insight as to how we can be satisfied. In talking to his disciples about worry, he also gives them a nugget about satisfaction when He says, "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:32-33 NASB. The "these things" that Jesus is speaking of are life's basics - clothes, food and shelter. Note that Jesus tells us if we seek first God's kingdom and righteousness, God will take care of these things. I think this is really the key to our satisfaction - seek God's kingdom and righteousness first!

Perhaps you'll join me in comparing wants to God's kingdom and righteousness. Apple (and every other company) may be trying to tell me I need better stuff, but what does it do for God's kingdom? When I look at it from that angle, my perspective begins to change, and I  start feeling satisfied with what I have. What about you? Does a change of perspective help you start to feel satisfied?

The Apostle Paul wrote the following to the church at Philippi - "But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:10-13 NASB.

Will you join me in echoing Paul's testimony of satisfaction?

Written by Richard Pease
Divisional Controller