If you are a believer in Jesus Christ as your Lord, then I need to inform you of something that perhaps some of you do not yet fully realize, you are never going to be satisfied here, you will never reach a complete level of contentment.
Everyone that you love is either going to die someday, or you will die before them, either way, one will leave the other, this of course is well known, the mortality rate for human beings is one hundred percent. But I am speaking expressly here of those things that we try to hold onto, the things of the world that hold an emotional attachment for us. We place these in order of our bond with them, our pets are part of our family, and when it comes time for them to leave us, the sorrow can be just as serious as that which others would express for a member of their closest relatives, but what next.
Not always, but many times the family photos are set next in the order of love for things, memories that can be recalled are the reason for these photos, and when they disappear, some of those memories will be lost forever. Granted, there are many ways to store these photographical heirlooms today, but I speak in relative terms, for what is on the list next may not be the same as what another might think should take precedence. Your grandmother’s furniture, the car your father gave you, prized mementos from your children that would not sell for the least amount of money, but are priceless to the bearer, all things become relative to the owner of that thing. While we possess these items, they bring joy to us, they help us to hold onto something from our past that give us fond memories and remind us of the love that is associated with them. They can satisfy only a singular part within us though, and they are relative only to the one who cherishes them.
Nothing in this world can ever completely satisfy the born-again believer though, for we were not made for this world. It is the wise man who stops seeking for satisfaction in this life from the world and all that it has to offer, and it is the man who understands these words that has given all that he has been blessed by the Lord with before they are removed from him permanently. Everyone of you reading this owns at least one item from this world that you cherish, something as mentioned that is precious only to you, but how many of you are willing to give that item to the Lord, to allow Him to do with it as He pleases. Was there a moment just there when that item came into your mind where you hesitated, where you wanted to keep it for yourself, trying in that brief second not to allow the feelings of “Mine” to come into your mind? Did you think, for only a second, that what He would replace it with, if He decided to replace it at all, would not be as dear to you as that one special item?
“The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1) Nothing you own belongs to you, absolutely nothing, no matter how you try to rationalize this statement, it comes out in the end in only one way, all belongs to God. If He wants to give to you, He will, if He wants to take away, He will, His choice does not need to be our will, our choices are to be made according to His will. “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21) Job understood this, it just took him a little time to figure it out, and in the end, he found out that all he needed was the Lord. If you are not willing to sacrifice that thing that you hold most dear to you to the Lord, then you are in a sense saying to Him that He does not know what is best for you, that He is wrong in this area, and when we think that God is wrong, then we are wrong, every time.
There is absolutely nothing here that is ever going to satisfy you completely, or eternally, but as the lost do, many Christians keep searching for that thing. The next new this or that, pulling items out of dresser drawers that rarely see the light of day to recall a special moment, safety deposit boxes and safes that are meant to hold the most prized possessions, all are of value to someone, but it is that value that is in question here today. Those who attempt to hold onto little, will attempt to hold onto much, until nearly all is taken from them, and then that last item becomes the main hindrance to their walk with the Savior. “And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.” (Mal. 1:8) What if you were to offer him that one item, that one thing in your life that you value above all others, that one object that holds the closest place in your heart, and say to Him, “Here, Lord, this is yours.”
My beautiful wife is the most precious person on this planet to me, all that I have means absolutely nothing to me in comparison to her, but many years ago I gave her up, I entrusted her to the Lord completely and without question, she is safer in His hands than she is in mine. Granted, I know that I will see her again, no matter which one of us He calls home to glory first, but it was not my wife that I gave to the Lord in essence, for as we stated, all belongs to Him in the first place. “Behold, all souls are mine;” (Ezek. 18:4) But let us not even go that far, for to some that would be to easy, as it were, how about your house and all that is in it, your pets, the ring that has been on your finger for fifty years, how about everything, and with no regrets whatsoever. If He decides to take it all, it is all His to take, will you offer it all willingly is the question.
The satisfaction that we believe we can obtain from the things of this world, the materialistic, temporal things is an illusion, the happiness that we receive from them is temporary at best, and one day they will be removed from us. The sad thing is those that believe that they will be allowed to keep them until they depart from this world, those who are being deceived the greatest, for they believe that what they own here is of eternal value, they are the priceless possessions of the mind that cannot correctly determine the knowledge of eternity. For those who have suffered through wars, the piece of bread that they are saving for tomorrow becomes their most prized possession, and they are satisfied with it.
The believer in the Lord Jesus Christ must come to the realization that all he possesses is the Lords property, and that He can do anything He wants to do with it whenever He wants to. The one who walks in true faith long ago gave all of these possessions to Him, and has allowed Him to do with them as He best sees fit, for he knows that his only real satisfaction comes from being a child of the Most High God, and the treasures that He has waiting for them in His kingdom cannot be compared to those that he once cherished here.
