When I Feel Unsatisfied
If I had a spouse like they do…
If my children were as well behaved as theirs…
If I could just get a new outfit…
If my hair would grow faster…
If my house was nicer…
If I was more talented…
If I could just get a new…
If I just had more…
If…If…If..
It is easy to become discontented by looking at what others have. Our eyes wander to someone else’s place of joy, happiness, and possessions, and we are quickly fooled into thinking we need what they have.
Although we know that everything we own belongs to God and that God owns everything, we are deceived and distracted by something bigger, better and sparklier than what we own.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. I John 2:16(KJV)
What do you do when you feel unsatisfied with life?
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
Look around and you’ll see people constantly looking at their phones comparing their lives with the highlight reel of others. When we dismiss this distraction as the new normal, we are opening ourselves up to a huge battlefield of the heart and mind. I use my phone a lot. I’m guilty of over consumption, but I want to change. I want to put the phone away and go to the park with my family. I want to play with my kids and not worry about the text that might come through. I want to look a friend in the eyes and see what she is really going through. I want to read my Bible and not be distracted by the ding of an email or the notification of a new follower.
Oh that we would fill our minds with God’s Word as much as we fill it with the apps on our phones.
When I fix my eyes on Jesus and realize He is all I need, I am able to put the distractions aside.
I begin to see everything I own as a blessing from God on loan to me. My talents, my family, my home, my stuff, my phone…everything.
As I seek to know God more intimately He is pressing hard into my heart telling me to beware of the enemy’s vice of distraction. I realize that I need to be a good steward of my time, my energy and my eyes.
Whether it’s pretty things, other people’s seemingly perfect lives, or a new gadget, I don’t want to be distracted. I want to be so devoted to my Savior that I am not deceived by all the stuff and the desire for more of this or less of that.
When we realize everything belongs to God and we keep our eyes adjusted to that perspective, satisfaction becomes much clearer. Simply being with God becomes enough to satisfy.
The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it. Psalm 24:1(NASB)
When you really think about it, we have everything we need if we have Jesus.
How do you think perspective relates to contentment? Do you struggle in the area of distraction? I would love to hear your thoughts!
Love & Blessings,
Micah
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Great post! It is so easy to get distracted, but if we fix our eyes on Jesus and remember that all we have is his and he is all we need that makes such a difference. Thanks for this reminder.
Thanks, Carly! Jesus truly does make all the difference. I’m learning every day to refocus.
This is beautiful, Micah. I hadn’t really connected a spirit of discontent with distraction, but it’s true. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, so many heart problems are remedied. Thanks for this reminder to fix our gave on Him first and foremost. (And to leave those phones alone once in a while!)
Thanks, Betsy. Oh to remedy our hearts!
Thank you for joining me every week on #livefreeThursday. I love that you do!
Thanks, Suzie! I really enjoy the prompts! Thanks for the opportunity to engage in a great community of women!
Thank you for your post! I struggle so much with unsatisfaction that only feed the not measuring up feeling inside. We believe the lie that our needs are nor being met when we go through the different seasons of life, wheter is a disease, financial struggle, unwanted singleness, when actually, Jesus is present in all of them. Thank you for reminding us that Jesus IS all we need, and not all the rest!
You’re welcome. I think we all struggle with not measuring up in some way.
I REALLY THANK GOD FOR THE GOOD WORK THAT YOU ARE DOING AND YOUR DEDICATED SERVICE TO HUMANITY.GOD BLESS YOU RICHLY.I PERFECTILY I AGREE WITH YOU ON THIS MESSAGE YOU ARE ON TOPIC OF IT.THE BIBLE MAKES IT CLEAR IN MATTHEW THAT WE SHOULD SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM AND OTHER THING SHALL BE ADDED TO US.2 CHRON.29:9-18.GOD BLESS YOU RICHLY,KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND KICK OUT THE FEAR.IT HAS CHALLENGE ME TO DEPEND MORE ON GOD AND NOT TO LOSE FOCUS
This is a very thought provoking view on how we should see our lives! It’s so easy to look around and think everybody else is better off but when we look at it through eyes that see everything as belonging to God and nothing belonging to us or everybody else it makes everything we have seem so much more precious! We don’t deserve ANYTHING!!!!!!!!! How blessed am I to just have the most basic of necessities! Much less all the stuff I have that I could really live perfectly comfortable without! Not to mention the simple fact of just bc somebody else SEEMS so much happier doesn’t mean that they aren’t struggling with things 100 times worse then the things that I’m struggling with! It’s all in my perspective and I should just b perfectly content in the fact that I have a God that loved me so much that He sent His one and only son to die for me! And even if I was the only one He still wouldn’t have changed a thing! It’s so amazing to be loved that much! Nothing else should matter! God is so good and since I found Him my whole world has changed. Just bc my perspective says I’m struggling doesn’t mean I’m not loved and doesn’t mean God isn’t using it to draw me closer to Him! A whole new perspective can change life as we know it!
Such a great reminder! Everything we have is on loan! Blessings to you!
Micah, your post reminds me of that quote from C.S. Lewis: “If I find in myself a longing that no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” So much of our dissatisfaction with life is based on our brokenness, and turns our eyes to the day when all longings will be fulfilled in Christ.
Wise words, Micah. So often we are mesmerized by the highlight reel of other’s lives, aren’t we? I love the way you summarized that. If we are focused on the journey of others we will never fully appreciate the journey we are on, and we will always miss the surprise blessings that were waiting for us all along.
You have made me think about stopping to view the surroundings today, much differently, rather than the glass pane in my hands.
Blessings!
Dawn
“…we have everything we need if we have Jesus.” Indeed. So thankful for Jesus. Sweet post during this season of Thanksgiving. :) Happy to be neighboring you at Weekend Whispers this morning. ((blessings))
Oh, yes, I’ve found myself stuck in this trap more times than I care to count! Thank you for the reminder to train my thoughts not on things but on Jesus!