The first 27 years of my life was spent searching for this fix in every nook and cranny the world had to offer, all of these places were outside of Jesus Christ, of course. The last 15 years of my life I have found it absolutely impossible to find it anywhere other than in Jesus Christ.
Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act. Psalm 37:4-5
What happened that caused me to stop searching for a fix that the world had to offer? What did I find in Jesus that brought me the satisfaction the world never could? How is this still all-satisfying, today?
As I unpack the answers to these questions I hope and pray that they may bring you to a deeper understanding of God’s love for you or your struggling loved one. I pray that it might cause you to run the race that is set before you with a greater endurance than you had yesterday. Hebrews 12:2 reminds us how we are to do this. I have always liked the way the NASB translates this, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Fixes outside of Christ
The word fix in the dictionary is described as a supply or dose of something strongly desired or craved. Here are a few examples:
- The “alcoholic” craves a drink.
- The “meth or crack/cocaine addict” craves a line, or a glass pipe to smoke, or a needle and a spoon.
- The “coffee addict” craves a cup of coffee first thing after he rises in the morning.
- The “sex addict” craves some sort of sensual pleasure.
- The thief craves to steal something to bring fulfillment to his/her day.
- The bully craves to tear someone down in order to feel better about themselves.
- The “shopaholic” craves to purchase more stuff in order to be content.
- The “food addict” craves food to feel satisfied.
- The “nicotine addict” craves a chew or a smoke to feel relaxation and anxiety relief.
These are just a few examples of the fixes that the world offers. Have you found yourself settling for any of these fixes? Did they satisfy? In my personal experience with many of these worldly fixes, I would say that they did satisfy, initially. How about you?
I love what the Lord says in Jeremiah 2:13, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. In a sentence, we turn our backs on the living God in our rebellion and settle for the counterfeit “gods” that can’t deliver on their promises. The cup appears to be full of what we are looking for, but eventually we find out there is a hole in the bottom of the cup. At the time, it seems like the right way to go. Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
The Rolling Stones said it this way, “I can’t get no satisfaction. I can’t get no satisfaction. Cause I try and I try and I try and I try. I can’t get no. I can’t get no…” Just like the forbidden woman described in Proverbs 5:4-5 but in the end she is bitter as worm-wood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol.
How could something that once brought so much pleasure and satisfaction now leave us so miserable and thirsty? This is satan’s most common tactic and far too often we bite the bait hook, line, and sinker and he reels us in with ease. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Christian Hedonism
I will never forget the day I stumbled upon the book Desiring God by John Piper. It was 2006-2007 and I had been reading a lot of what I would call “soft gospel” authors. This book blew my mind as it spoke to the heart of the bulk of my issues. Hedonism according to Webster’s dictionary is the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life. In simple southern Iowa language, it is saying that the satisfied life is all about my pleasure and my happiness being the end all, be all. This book flipped the script on me by using Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Another phrase and idea from Piper weaved throughout the whole book, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” So, what does Christian Hedonism have to do with addictions/life-dominating sins?
- The addict and the whole world for that matter, is in need of a fix.
- We are all worshippers of either self, stuff, sin, idols, or God.
- Our hearts will never be fully satisfied until it is full of the fix that is found in Jesus Christ and HIM alone. Augustine wisely said this, “Our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in You.”
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Romans 5:6-9
This was, is, and always be the only fix that will truly satisfy our hungry hearts, friends! Nothing else will do, despite the messages and ideas the world gives us. This is the Gospel! Jesus came into this sin-infested world and lived the sinless life that we were not able to live. He died the death that we deserved to die and He rose again on the 3rd day conquering sin, death, and hell, that we should have been consumed by. When we turn from our ways and turn to Him we find the pleasure and joy we’ve all been longing for!
So I will close with the same verse I began with. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. Psalms 37:4-5
- Delight yourself in the Lord.
- Commit your way to the Lord.
- Trust in the Lord.
- The Lord will give you what you need.
- The Lord will act.
Finally, in a sentence, I’ll answer the questions that I posed at the beginning of this blog.
What happened that caused me to stop searching for a fix that the world had to offer? I came to an end of myself and cried out to the Lord in desperation.
What did I find in Jesus that brought me the satisfaction that the world never could? True, lasting freedom and joy that doesn’t leave me thirsty.
How is this still all-satisfying, today? The Lord is infinite (limitless, boundless, never-ending) so this means there is always more of Him to have!
May you or your loved one who is looking for love in all the wrong places and settling for temporary fixes that the world offers come to know the only fix that truly satisfies, today!
C.J. McMurry currently lives in Winterset Iowa with his wife, Misty, and their three children Carter, Seth, and Maryssa. They have three more grown up children Sabryna, Bethany, and Ethan. C.J. is the founder of The Refuge, a ministry that offers hope and help to those who are battling addictions/life-dominating sin issues. He was also the Director of Freedom House, a men’s residential discipleship ministry of Harvest Bible Chapel. He is passionate about seeing lives transformed by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.