Can you picture Mick Jagger wearing sandals with black tube socks living in a retirement community somewhere in Florida and driving a golf cart around to various Bingo establishments? Me either.
I think Mick Jagger was being prophetic when he sang to the masses the Rolling Stones’ hit “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” because the band went on to have three “farewell tours.” A Farewell tour is supposed to be when a band goes on stage for the last time and tells its’ fans that it has been a good run but it is time to just sit back and become a classic. Coming back after saying goodbye tells everybody that you are not satisfied with retired life.
Mick Jagger isn’t the only one who had a hard time finding some satisfaction; in the book of Esther we meet a guy named Haman who had the same problem.
In chapter 5 verse 9 we read: “Haman went out that day in happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.”
Then we find this guy throwing himself a pity party to all of his friends and bragging about how he was all that and a bag of chips to the king of Persia. Being the second most important man in the kingdom, though, didn’t seem to be enough because he finished his boasting by saying to his guests “But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see this Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate” (verse 13).
At this point you might be thinking “Hey man!” (get it- Haman? whew, that was a good one), “watch with the racial slurs,” but I am not here to address anti-Semitism. Maybe another time.
Haman, Mick Jagger, and the thoughts we wrestle with every night on our pillow before we go to bed all sing the same song. We can’t get no satisfaction.
Now, the good Christian response would be to say “true satisfaction only comes through Jesus Christ,” which is absolutely true. At least it is in theory, because I know a whole lot of Christians, myself included that have a real hard time honestly calling themselves “satisfied.” Enough does not exist. The very word “enough” might as well be Klingon because it just makes that much sense in our heads. If Enough does exist, then it lives wherever is just outside of where we are at that moment.
Greedy C.E.Os, rich celebrities and heroin addicts have no excuse. Everybody knows that the things they cannot get enough of are bad because they are things like money, fame and, well…heroin. But what about the good guys? What about the guys who go after their dream of providing for their family? What about the guys who want to spend their life preaching the Gospel? What about the guys who just want to help people.
I know a lot of people who are doing exactly what God wanted them to do which is exactly what they themselves have always wanted to do but still have a hard time waking up with motivation. They are doing everything they have always dreamed of doing but suddenly find that it does not crank their tractor like they thought it always would. They wake up one day and find that they have their dream job, their dream girl, and their dream family living in their dream house and still cannot come up with enough motivation to get out of bed. Good old fashioned satisfaction is hard to come by these days.
Satisfaction cannot exist where identity is found in what you are doing and not who you are. Haman was the second most important person in the kingdom of Persia but one old guy from a race of exiles showed a little bit of distaste and it shattered his whole perception. Haman got so angry that he plotted against every single Jew in the country, which eventually led to his own execution. Enough is never enough when identity is at stake. When someone has the ability to convince you of something that God says you are not then you have given that person power to rob you of all satisfaction. You have doomed yourself to yet another farewell tour and will never get to play Bingo in tube socks.
God says you are His child. God says you are valuable because He created you, not because you can do something important. God says that it doesn’t matter what you have done or what has been done to you because He already died for you just the same and still has a plan and a purpose for your life that is bigger than anything you could ever imagine. God says that circumstances in your life do not affect the amount of peace and joy He can bestow on you at any moment.
There could be a million reasons why you are not satisfied with the things God has given you, but I bet all of them could be erased if you just remembered what God thinks of you.
Who has control of your perception of yourself? Who have you let rob you of satisfaction?
I think Mick Jagger was being prophetic when he sang to the masses the Rolling Stones’ hit “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” because the band went on to have three “farewell tours.” A Farewell tour is supposed to be when a band goes on stage for the last time and tells its’ fans that it has been a good run but it is time to just sit back and become a classic. Coming back after saying goodbye tells everybody that you are not satisfied with retired life.
Mick Jagger isn’t the only one who had a hard time finding some satisfaction; in the book of Esther we meet a guy named Haman who had the same problem.
In chapter 5 verse 9 we read: “Haman went out that day in happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.”
Then we find this guy throwing himself a pity party to all of his friends and bragging about how he was all that and a bag of chips to the king of Persia. Being the second most important man in the kingdom, though, didn’t seem to be enough because he finished his boasting by saying to his guests “But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see this Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate” (verse 13).
At this point you might be thinking “Hey man!” (get it- Haman? whew, that was a good one), “watch with the racial slurs,” but I am not here to address anti-Semitism. Maybe another time.
Haman, Mick Jagger, and the thoughts we wrestle with every night on our pillow before we go to bed all sing the same song. We can’t get no satisfaction.
Now, the good Christian response would be to say “true satisfaction only comes through Jesus Christ,” which is absolutely true. At least it is in theory, because I know a whole lot of Christians, myself included that have a real hard time honestly calling themselves “satisfied.” Enough does not exist. The very word “enough” might as well be Klingon because it just makes that much sense in our heads. If Enough does exist, then it lives wherever is just outside of where we are at that moment.
Greedy C.E.Os, rich celebrities and heroin addicts have no excuse. Everybody knows that the things they cannot get enough of are bad because they are things like money, fame and, well…heroin. But what about the good guys? What about the guys who go after their dream of providing for their family? What about the guys who want to spend their life preaching the Gospel? What about the guys who just want to help people.
I know a lot of people who are doing exactly what God wanted them to do which is exactly what they themselves have always wanted to do but still have a hard time waking up with motivation. They are doing everything they have always dreamed of doing but suddenly find that it does not crank their tractor like they thought it always would. They wake up one day and find that they have their dream job, their dream girl, and their dream family living in their dream house and still cannot come up with enough motivation to get out of bed. Good old fashioned satisfaction is hard to come by these days.
Satisfaction cannot exist where identity is found in what you are doing and not who you are. Haman was the second most important person in the kingdom of Persia but one old guy from a race of exiles showed a little bit of distaste and it shattered his whole perception. Haman got so angry that he plotted against every single Jew in the country, which eventually led to his own execution. Enough is never enough when identity is at stake. When someone has the ability to convince you of something that God says you are not then you have given that person power to rob you of all satisfaction. You have doomed yourself to yet another farewell tour and will never get to play Bingo in tube socks.
God says you are His child. God says you are valuable because He created you, not because you can do something important. God says that it doesn’t matter what you have done or what has been done to you because He already died for you just the same and still has a plan and a purpose for your life that is bigger than anything you could ever imagine. God says that circumstances in your life do not affect the amount of peace and joy He can bestow on you at any moment.
There could be a million reasons why you are not satisfied with the things God has given you, but I bet all of them could be erased if you just remembered what God thinks of you.
Who has control of your perception of yourself? Who have you let rob you of satisfaction?
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