NATURE'S PEACE

God has given us an incredible natural world to enjoy. Summertime offers us vistas of color, texture, and shape to feast our eyes upon. As well, the enjoyment and study of creation bring needed peace to our soul when we need it. Imagine how pleased God is when we’re praising Him for every butterfly, beast, and blade of grass.

ETERNAL PERSPECTIVES by Sally Bair

Only God Satisfies

As our resident hummingbirds gear up for their long trip south, their appetites become gigantic. More and more often, we must refill their feeders. The best food for the hummers, however, is the nectar produced by flowers. They flit from flower to flower for the best stuff and yet keep returning to our feeders.

Processed sugar isn’t as good for them as naturally-made nectar. If that were all they had available, they wouldn’t be as healthy as those that also eat from the nectar of flowers. Sometimes I wonder if they’re thinking, “This sugar water is great stuff.”

That’s the way with us humans, too. We eat more of the second-best stuff and think it’s great, when in truth our bodies crave the best foods. The irony is that the less we eat of the best, the more we go for the second-best. The need for self-satisfaction is evident in other areas of our lives, too. The more money we make, the more we crave psychologically. The more we drink and use drugs, the more we crave physically.

At one time in my life, I sought out the so-called pleasures of alcohol and partying. The day came, however, when I realized that none of it satisfied my soul. On that life-changing day, I finally realized that only God can fill my deep, spiritual need. On that day His peace and joy overwhelmed me.

We all experience the need for God’s love and forgiveness, His peace and joy. God has put eternity in our hearts, we’re told in Ecclesiastes 3:11. In other words, He has purposely designed us with a deep, spiritual longing that can be met only through a relationship with Christ. That place in our heart is reserved for Christ alone.

When we realize that nothing can satisfy except Christ, it becomes easy to surrender everything we own and desire to Him. Jesus invites us to empty ourselves so He can fill every part of us with His cleansing, unfailing love. The key words here are “every part.” If we hang onto the least bit of our bad habits, desires, and pride, we won’t experience the peace and joy He desires for us. And like the hummers, we’ll be satisfied with the second best.

Lord, reveal through Your Holy Spirit anything that keeps us from being satisfied with anything less than You. Give us the strength and will to surrender to You everything we think, speak, and do so we can be wholly satisfied in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.