Wisdom for building a satisfying Christian life
The following scriptures present the life of a godly person as being intensely satisfying:
How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures (Ps 36:7-8).
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips (Ps 63:3-5).
Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (Ps 73:25-26).
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness (Ps 107:8-9).
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matt 11:28-30)
… I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10).
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness … (Acts 2:46)
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy
(1 Thess 2:19-20).
Now godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Tim. 6:6).
Emptiness in the Christian life
Despite what you’ve read above, it’s all too common for Christians to struggle in terms of finding satisfaction in life. We sometimes feel a void in our lives, and try to fill it with things of the world. We might chase after worldly dreams, interests or schemes. We may even go back to some of the things of darkness that we renounced when we became Christians (Galatians 2:18). We sometimes feel bored or restless and don’t know what to do with ourselves despite God’s word crying out to us with a myriad of worthwhile and glorious things to do.
This disconnect between the intensely satisfying godly life we read about above and the lives we actually lead could be due to a whole host of factors. It’s certainly true that the Christian life has its challenges. It does involve self-denial. Sometimes we must deny ourselves the satisfaction that could be ours because of the higher purposes and standards of God. It also may involve trials and tribulations for the sake of Christ. We are instructed in 1 Peter 2:11, Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Our fleshly nature wars against our new spiritual nature and this detracts from the great satisfaction and fulfilment that should be ours. In light of all of this it is important we as Christians know how to build satisfying Christian lives. Below are some pieces of wisdom for so doing.
Advice for building a Christian life that is intensely satisfying or fulfilling
Have realistic expectations. You can’t have everything just as you want it. Nobody, Christian or otherwise, does. There will be trials and tribulations for Christ’s sake and for other reasons, but you know that ultimately God will work everything out for good for those who love Him.
A close relationship with God should be the number one priority. Note the attitude of the Psalmist in the scriptures above. King David went through hard times, but his feeling of fulfilment in God is strongly evident in these verses.
Set affections on things above, not on things below. Colossians 3:2 instructs us to do this. Lay up heavenly treasures, not earthly treasures. If our focus is in gaining fulfilment or satisfaction in earthly things, then it’s little wonder we will not gain much satisfaction from the Christian life.
Serve God heartily. We generally only get out of something what we put into it. Colossians 3:23 says, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ.”
Set out to please God and not men. Colossians 3:23 above also reminds us of this. We can’t please everyone, but we can please the One who matters most. Seeking to please men can be very frustrating. Sometimes we will be rejected, or we will go unnoticed. God sees everything and rejects no-one who serves Him in truth with a sincere heart.
Seek deeper fellowship with brethren. Acts 2:46 and 1 Thessalonians 2:19 illustrate the deep fulfilment that can come from having close relationships with brethren and through serving them.
Always be looking to grow spiritually and to experience new aspects of the Christian life. A great source of fulfilment for many is the sense of challenge and growth. Many of us grow discontented if we have no challenges or aren’t growing or experiencing new things. Many don’t like to be in the same old rut. There’s an emptiness or barrenness in stagnating. 2 Peter 1:5-9 counsels us to keep growing so that we are neither barren nor unfruitful as Christians.
Be patient. Impatience breeds discontent. Remember a day is as a thousand years for God and a thousand years as a day. God has a different view of time than us.
Remember to focus on the things that are pure, lovely and of good report, the positive things. Philippians 4:8-9 counsels us to do this, and promises us peace if we do. In fact, it promises us that the God of peace will be with us. This includes not comparing ourselves negatively against others, such as by focusing on what we don’t have as compared to them. We should focus on what we have, not what we don’t have. A sure way to feel dissatisfied is to focus on the negative. By training ourselves to replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts we will find more peace and fulfilment.
Practice obedience to every word of God especially filling your life with love toward God and your fellowman. Jesus instructs that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Guilt and a lost sense of purpose result when we stray from God’s plan for our lives. Read Psalm 119 and you will see the fantastic sense of purpose and fulfilment the Psalmist had from walking according to God’s standards. This includes not cultivating or recultivating the things that war against our new man (1 Peter 2:11), or building again some of the wicked ways we renounced (Galatians 2:18). Love is the fulfilment of the law. Love for God will cause us to keep the first four of the 10 commandments and love for our neighbour the last six. Focus on loving God and others and you will be one of the most fulfilled people there is.
Serve according to giftedness. We should put most of our energy in serving God into the area we feel God has gifted us in. It’s very frustrating trying to put a square peg into a round hole. If we are a preacher and have no ability at constructing mission houses, getting involved in mission house construction will be a disaster. Terrible failure will be most unsatisfying for us.
Make sure of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power. If we don’t have the Holy Spirit, any attempt to live the Christian life will be most unsatisfying. We will lack the true desire for God and His service, we won’t understand the point of being a Christian at all, and we won’t have the ability or power to live as a Christian.
Deal with the things that hinder the Holy Spirit. A true sign the Holy Spirit is being hindered in us is when we don’t have much of a desire to do the things mentioned above. A Christian ‘unhindered’ will have Isaiah’s, “Here am I, send me” attitude. The stresses or cares in our lives, as Jesus said, can choke the Word in us. They choke the Holy Spirit too. If our jobs, studies, relationships or other things are hindering the Spirit in us, we need to deal with these stressors. We can’t just ignore them and expect to have a fulfilling Christian experience.
One more thing
The reader is also encouraged to read the book of Ecclesiastes, a book all about King Solomon’s search for meaning and fulfilment in life. Much more great advice will be found for building a satisfying godly life.