Where the Wise Find Satisfaction

Paul Pitts III, an associate pastor at Bethany Bible Church in Thousand Oaks, taught us “where the wise find satisfaction.”

We cannot be satisfied by the “world”, which represents the pursuit of happiness from anything other than God.  Worldly pursuits, whether fame, riches, career satisfaction, or other desires, are not where the wise find satisfaction: 

· If we are not successful in our worldly pursuits, we will be inevitably disappointed.

· Even if we are successful, we will find what we pursued to be ultimately unsatisfying.

· That unsatisfaction will be most apparent upon death, when we find that our pursuit has no eternal value.    

·We were made to be loved by Christ, not for empty pursuits with no lasting value.

·Augustine’s “confessions” summed up how believers should view worldly pursuits, when he realized about his worldly ambitions that “what I once feared to lose was now a delight to dismiss.”   

Paul then shared with us the important lessons about finding satisfaction that are embedded in Philippians 4:11-13.

· We are called to seek contentment and satisfaction with the Lord and his provision (v. 11)

·The Apostle Paul “learned” this contentment, and thus it wasn’t a matter of intellectual assent.  We will also learn contentment as we see that even difficult and trying times reveal something beautiful about Christ and his love

·We learn that our contentment can abound regardless of our circumstances. 

·And we learn that v. 13, so often taken out of context, doesn’t promise us that we can “conquer all things” with what Paul Pitts referred to as “Jesus Juice.”  Instead, it promises that we can be content in ALL that God brings into our lives, whether temporally “good” or “bad.”