An all you can eat buffet can be a wonderful and dangerous thing. It is amazing how in such a relatively short amount of time you can go from feeling like you are starving to never wanting to see food again in your life! Perhaps you have had the experience? You came because you were hungry but after seven plates full and three desserts it would not matter if you were offered a personal French chef to design a signature dish for you. You are full and there is no need nor desire for anything else, no matter how wonderful! Nothing kills motivation like satisfaction. But what if your real hunger for real nourishment is being masked by the substitutes you are filling your life with instead? How do we unleash our true hunger and ensure it is filled with what we really need rather than cheap substitutes that only disappoint? This is not about food. This is about life.
It has been said that satisfied needs do not motivate and I believe it to be true. No one pushes forward to summit the mountain if all they really wanted was a nice little scenic view from the side of the hill. Likewise, it is hard to motivate people to exercise when they feel they get around just fine. However, have a major health event and all of the sudden motivation wakes up because there is a clear need. In those moments whatever substitutes we were using to mask our true hunger and real needs are exposed as insufficient and empty. Why do we allow such thing to lie to us for so long? Do we even know we are letting it happen at all? [Click here to read my post “Recalibrating Your Vision”]
Dulled Motivation
Being satisfied is both a good thing and a worthy goal but we can all agree that there are many things in life that will try to shortcut our true satisfaction by offering a cheaper, easier, lesser-than substitute. We are hungry for a lasting, loving, enduring relationship but we are lonely now and settle for a cheap substitute to get us through the day. We are hungry for a lifestyle change but settle for a temporary diet. Once we do this, we pacify our hunger for the genuine desire enough to “take the edge off” and numb ourselves back into feeling somewhat satisfied with the situation, at least for today. Not only does this dull our motivation for the real thing, it often leaves us feeling empty as result. [Click here to read my post “Is Being Content Just Being Lazy?“
In what areas are you using television, social media, cheap thrills or substances to mask the true hunger of your heart? We all do it in different ways and at different times but we have an opportunity to recognize it for what it is and look for a way out. But what is that way out? I would submit to you the only way out from under the wet blanket of masked hunger and false comfort is to recognize at a soul level we have a hunger to be truly known, truly loved, and truly valued. Everything we do in life is rooted in these basic hungers and can express themselves in a myriad of ways, both positive and negative, from philanthropy to narcissism. Once we recognize this it begs the question, “How can those hungers truly be satisfied?”
This is the Exciting Part
What if I told you the author of your favorite book was clearing his calendar on a moment’s notice based on if and when you reached out to meet with him? How would that make you feel? What would that affirm in you? What would you do about it? As exciting of a proposition that is, the greater truth is the God of the universe, the one who formed you in your Mother’s womb and created you with great purpose and destiny is holding His hand out to you day and night with just such an invitation. Not only is God reaching out His hand to you and I, He went a step further and came to us personally in the man Jesus of Nazareth. [Click here to read my post “God Broke My Heart”]
No one can fix what has broken like the one who created it as beautiful and whole in the first place. God didn’t design us to be flawed and broken, we managed that on our own. However, He is ready and willing at every turn to make us whole. The creator and lover of your soul is willing to be with you, equip you, and satisfy every need in your life if you would but invite Him in and allow Him to take the lead. Nothing is more satisfying, and in turn, nothing motivates you to live the beautiful, exciting, daring life you were created for more than the gratitude that comes from being fully loved, fully accepted and made fully alive. Are you hungry for that? I am.
From The Bible
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. – Matthew 5:6 ESV
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. – John 6:35 ESV
There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. The appetite of laborers works for them; their hunger drives them on. – Proverbs 16:25-26 NIV