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Faith at Work Network

True Satisfaction

    There is a way for you to be truly satisfied in life. There is a way for you to press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:14). There is a way to live so that at the end of the year you can look back at the year with satisfaction regardless of the joys and struggles you encounter. This way is to obey God’s commandments.

    There is a divine will all people are called to obey, God’s will. Yet many view God’s commandments as restrictive and strict. Therefore they don’t want to obey them, or remain faithful to them. Yet that is just not true. God’s commandments are meant to be liberating, not restrictive. They are meant to help bring about true satisfaction and joy in life, not take them away. For God is our joy. How can He who is our joy take our joy away? That just can’t happen.

    Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

    Jesus clearly says that we need to remain faithful to his teachings, which are God’s commandments. If Christ, who died for us, tells us to obey them, can they really be restrictive and take away our joy? No, of course not! Furthermore, Christ tells us that by remaining faithful to His teachings, which are the commandments of God, we will know the truth and be free. Freedom is the opposite of being restrictive! So why do we believe that His commandments are restrictive if Christ Himself says that they are freeing? Shouldn’t we listen to what Christ tells us?

    Freedom is to be enslaved to God. For before you were a slave to the world and the things of the world. This lead you to feelings of shame and sin. Yet now, as followers of Christ, you are free from the things of the world, for you have chosen to follow the things of God which lead to eternal life, thus enslaving yourself to Christ who gives you eternal life. (Romans 6:15-23). When you commit yourselves to holy living and following God’s commandments, you gain the freedom of eternal life, and to do that you must submit yourselves to Christ. Freedom is the absence of coercion, for we have free will to choose and to be who God has called us to be. By submitting yourselves to His commands you are becoming free to live a holy life which leads to everlasting life. Everlasting life will give you true satisfaction, for you will have received God’s great reward.

    If remaining faithful to Christ’s teachings gives you the truth, and the truth sets you free, then true satisfaction in life is going to be directly proportionate to your obedience to God. For Christ tells us that by remaining faithful to His commandments we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. Remaining faithful is another way of phrasing obedience to God. Knowing the truth and being free is just another way of saying that we will have true satisfaction in life.

    Jesus tells us exactly how we can have true satisfaction in life, and he even gives us the formula to do so. Level of obedience = level of satisfaction . Therefore, in the New Year, instead of choosing to do something which may not bring peace in the long run, choose to further your relationship with Christ. Choose to obey God’s commandments, and to seek out He who is our joy. Christ has a special calling for each of you this New Year, instead of repeating the same old resolutions that will not bring satisfaction to your lives, consider turning to Him and listening to what He is calling you to do. Seek God and obey Him this coming year, for when you obey His divine will you will gain true satisfaction in life

    I press on toward the goal to win the prize
    for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus
    (Phil 3:14)