Unfortunately for us, the world that we live in is extremely broken. We see this every day. When we come to the realization that one thing cannot completely satisfy us, we move on and look for something else that can ultimately satisfy us.
We often search for answers in places such as money, power, knowledge, experiences, control, work, comfort, approval, success, and sexual pleasure. All of these things may provide a momentary escape from this world of brokenness, but the reality is that we deceive ourselves into thinking that the things of this world can provide us eternal satisfaction.
Throughout scripture, we see the narrative of God's people settling for less. From worshipping the Golden Calf to the worship of the pagan god Dagon to the Rich Man that Jesus encounters, we see that people are plagued by the worship of idols. The same is true today: we are longing for more. As C.S. Lewis said, "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."
As Believers, our beliefs should drive our desires. What we believe should motivate us to live differently. Although this world is broken and full of sin, we have a way to experience much more than what this world has to offer. The writer of Hebrews invites us to lay aside every hindrance and sin that so easily entangles us so that we can run our race (Hebrews 12:1). Every alternative god that we put in His place continues to fail us, resulting in a broken idol. Idols do not satisfy us; they only fail us. Luckily, we are able to rest in the sufficiency of our King, Jesus, who has made a way for us to be forgiven of our sins against a Holy God. Today, let us rest in the adequacy of our Savior as we continue to run the race that He has marked out for us.
