Satisfaction in God Allows For Greater Love Toward Others
This was posted on Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 11:56 pm by Mitch
While I was thinking about two different things, an equation of sorts was formulated in my head. John Piper’s ever famous phrase, “God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him” was traveling through my cerebral cortex when another thought entered that was on the topic of people having needs. As human beings many times we feel that we have needs that should be met by other people. If they aren’t met, it affects our happiness and attitude towards those people. The problem with looking for people to meet our needs is that they simply can’t; if we expect that of them, we will always be disappointed. People are sinful and imperfect. God, however, can meet all of our needs because he is all powerful, perfect, and holy. So the equation that was formulated in my head looks something like this:
God + satisfaction in Him / my needs = no needs required to be met by other people
If I am completely satisfied in God and all of my needs are being met by him, I won’t be expecting any of those needs to be met by other people. I won’t be disappointed in people when they aren’t met and my relationships with them will be unhindered by their inadequacy to meet my needs. In effect, I will be able to love people more deeply and more purely. Because I am completely satisfied in God and his ability to meet my needs I will be able to treat people with love no matter the circumstance.
The equation parallels well with the response Jesus gave to a teacher of the law who asked what the greatest commandment is:
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.
The order in which Jesus answered implies that from a wholehearted love for God will spring a love for one’s neighbor as one’s self. In a way it circles back to the phrase from John Piper: God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him. Because my needs are being satisfied by God, his love is more richly and greatly shown through me due to my ability to love others in a greater capacity. With more love for God, I can more greatly exemplify Christlike character.
What are some needs that you seek to be met by people or the world?
Filed under: Meditations
at 4:57 pm
Ahhhhhh, satisfaction in God is more satisfaction of abiding in Him, having communion with Him, meditation with Him on His Word, than what he can or will do to please us. When our satisfaction lies in Him, all else becomes secondary, which is to say also, temporary. And He is pleased!
Mike