Are you satisfied?

Have you had a goal in life, that when you obtained it, you said to yourself: “I am not sure it was worth it,” or perhaps “It is not really all that I thought it would be”? On the other hand, have you ever chosen a path and afterwards reflected: “I thought this would be good, but it is far better than I ever imagined”?  Think how satisfying it would be to have given your whole life to something that fits in the last category! Based on what they have written, people that gave themselves wholeheartedly to be Jesus disciples are such ones:

Paul, who after seeing a great light on the road to Damascus, said “Lord what do you want me to do?” (Acts 9:3-6) and then gives this witness about the life that resulted: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us …” Ephesians 3:20.

Peter was one of the four fishermen who “immediately left their nets” (Mark 1:16-20) when Jesus called them, and he writes: “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:3-4.

Jude says this at the end of his epistle: “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy … ” Jude 1:24-25.

These and many others, who gave up all that they could have been in this world to follow Jesus, did not regret this choice in life. 

In the book of Isaiah, we find advice for anyone who desires a fulfilling life such as these people lived, but is not experiencing it: “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.” Isaiah 55:1-2. The chapter continues with encouragement to seek the Lord and listen to His word and then summarizes why: “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but waters the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace …” Isaiah 55:10-12.

Jesus told the Samaritan woman He met at the well: “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:13-14. This, we could say, is a fulfillment of what Isaiah prophesized about Jesus: “… and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.” Isaiah 53:10-11.

Jesus offers the same satisfaction to anyone who will follow in His footsteps: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10. His disciples experience a blessed life while on the earth and then an even happier eternity. With such examples and promises given to us, is it not wise to “seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near”? Isaiah 55:6