Acts 17: 27-28
In truth, he is not far from any of us, 28 “since in him we live, move and exist”. As some of your own Greek poets have said: “We are descendants of him.”
The dissatisfaction of the human being is a theme of all times and all ages. It doesn’t matter what era you are in or how old you are, there is always something you feel dissatisfied with. As the saying goes: “The grass is always greener in the neighbor’s yard.” Children want to be adults, students already want to work, singles want to get married, blondes want to be brunettes and brunettes want to be blondes, well, what we have is never enough, there will always be something that we lack.
Given our emotional formation, we continually live responding to external pressures: Didn’t you finish studying? When are you getting married? So many years and you have not had children? But do you already have a house of your own? Have you never been to such a place? Have you not tried this or this other experience? And questions like these make our life always be on the line of “non-satisfaction” because there will always be something that we will not have done or achieved according to the standards or criteria of society.
The mistake is trying to build ourselves from the outside in and not from the inside out, as it should be. So we put a demand upon demand and one thing makes us seem like we need the other. And we “feel” (it is only a feeling) that we are completing ourselves as we reach the demands that we have received as correct to feel fulfilled – this is known as the satisfaction of our ego.
The demand of the ego keeps me continually maintaining a focus towards the future: “When I am an adult”, “when I graduate”, “when I have a partner or get married”, “when I have more money”, “when I have children”, ” when I move out of my parents’ house and become independent, ”among many other things we want to achieve. And it is precise that continually looking at what I need to have or achieve, that I cannot value what I already have and have achieved.
The ego, having the need for continuous satisfaction, does not allow you to be grateful in any way with what you have and makes you feel that life always owes you. Through this, your happiness and satisfaction will always be postponed to the future. In no way, looking continuously to the future, can I enjoy myself today. And anxiety is born from the excess of the future.
The reality is that we need to be able to look within, as I mentioned earlier, if something has to be started working with, it is within me and not outside. What we need to be happy and satisfied, we already have it, but we have not been able to see it. God made us as complete beings. I want to share this portion of the word with you and I ask the Holy Spirit that you can see the richness that I could see through it – Colossians 2: 8-10 says: “8 See that no one deceives you by means of philosophies and hollow subtleties, according to traditions of men, according to the rudiments of the world, AND NOT ACCORDING TO CHRIST. 9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, 10 AND YOU ARE COMPLETE IN HIM, who is the head of all principality and power.
The wealth that we long for to feel complete, we can only find through him. It is he who can bring us to fullness because it was, he who created it for us. The external will always put a demand on us that we can never satisfy, no matter how hard we try. That is why Jesus made such a clear invitation to relieve our souls: “Put on my yoke. Let me teach you because I am humble and tender of heart, and you will find rest for the soul”. Matthew 11:29
His word was clear, only from him can we learn, it is through humility and simplicity that rest is achieved. Achieving satisfaction is rest, letting go of the eagerness that external demand causes in us are rest. The only way we will find satisfaction no matter how much demand there is from our exterior, is to know that we have everything in him because whoever joins Christ, a spirit is with him (1 Corinthians 6:17), that is why our souls they can be relieved and grateful, because only in Him do we find rest and fulfillment. May his grace and fullness cover you today.
