Satisfaction

Not long ago here on the Ranch we had Training Week, a week where we train all of our high school and college students who make up our summer staff to help us with our camping ministry in the summer. It is a very busy and intense time with sessions and training for different skills and jobs. From the very first day we are a team in the sense that we are all in the same place generally doing the same job; we are doing camp.

Why are you where you are? Why are you doing what you are doing? We can sometimes go to seed in trying to know our own motives because often we do not know our own hearts and our motives are a mixed bag, but the difference between where the people who followed Jesus were and the reasons Jesus came to the earth are very telling. They had two very different motives. The summer staff on the Ranch are a team on the very first day because they are in the same place, but if they are a team at the end of the summer it will be because they have the same motives and reason for being here.

In John 6:26 Jesus was looking at a crowd who followed Him after He fed five thousand people because they wanted a free meal. Jesus said to them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled.” In other words, you are following me because you want to have a meal. Verse 38 is a stark contrast that explains why Jesus came. “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” What follows is a long discussion about the bread for which these people were seeking. They wanted bread like they thought had been given to Moses in the manna, but the bread Jesus was talking about was the living bread, everlasting bread, Jesus Christ Himself.

These people were in conflict with Jesus because their motives were in conflict with His. They were there because they wanted food; Jesus was there because He wanted to give the everlasting bread. When will you check out and stop doing what you are doing? Maybe you are involved in your church, teaching Sunday school, greeting people on Sunday morning, ushering, helping with special music, or something else that no one even notices. When will you check out of that work? Verse 66 says after Jesus and these people had this discussion about bread “from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” Why? It was because they were there for what they could get. Jesus was there for what He would give.

In verse 67 Jesus looked at His disciples and said, “Will ye also go away?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” A lot of people are doing good things, but they are doing them because of what it will get them, sympathy, adoration, some honorary title, or some kind of power because they are “serving God.” Satisfaction is when your goals match God’s priorities. Fulfillment is when your goals match God’s priorities. There are two reasons for that.

First, nothing else lasts. In verse 49 Jesus replied to these people who followed Him because they wanted food and referenced Him and the manna. Jesus answered, “Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.” In other words, nothing else but what matters to God really lasts. You can have goals about your physical, mental, or social well-being, maybe the number of pushups you are going to do today, the books you are going to read this month, or the people you are going to meet this year. Those aren’t bad, but all of them have diminishing returns.

From the time you are about 30, your muscle mass begins to deteriorate. You should exercise so it doesn’t happen as fast, but it won’t last. Reading books and learning is fine, but it won’t last. It is not eternal, nor is making a reputation for yourself. It is discouraging when I think about the people who have served with us here at the Bill Rice Ranch, who were a help to thousands of people and preached to them, but forty or fifty years later no one knows or remembers them. So, nothing else but what matters to God will last.

Second, nothing else matters. Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of life.” I may go somewhere and get a name or money, improve myself mentally or physically, but the Lord is the one who has the words of life. If I am looking to externals like mental, social, or physical improvement to gain myself significance, that is a hard life because this life is not eternal. This life does however have significance in the eternal. The question is “Are your goals eternal?”

Now, we should have goals for every day, pushups, books, or whatever. Those may be good and help something that is eternal, but know that ultimately satisfaction and fulfillment come from your goals matching God’s priorities. These people wanted bread that would be eaten and then be gone. Jesus gives life that is eternal. That should be your focus in your daily life.