We are a grasping society. We want more things. We want more entertainment. We want more things. We want more recognition. We want more things. We want more advancement. We want more things. We want more control. We want more things. Fact is, we want more things. We’re not satisfied. There is a sense of frustration which accompanies dissatisfaction. There is a reason for such frustration. We tend to try to satisfy with that which can only pacify. We find things that gratify for a while, but they soon wane and our thirst reappears, often with an even fiercer bite to it. Off we go, searching for some new invention, some new bauble which will give us some satisfaction, only to find that the same voracious appetite reappears. We’re trying to satisfy ourselves with paltry means. Satisfaction can come only when we feed the whole man--and with the things He intended. It’s not wrong to have things; things satisfy. But what about the other appetites we have? God has given us an intellect. He satisfies the needs of that intellect by giving us information and by allowing us to “subdue” the earth (Gen. 1:28). There is a sense of satisfaction when the mind is given its learning exercise. When there is no learning man shrivels mentally; he feels empty, unfilled. Man was made to learn. God has given us an aesthetic nature. Man naturally tends toward lovely things. Of all of God’s creatures, He alone is fitted to appreciate the beauty of art, the harmony of music, the symmetry of fine piece of sculpture, the song of a bird (Psalm. 19:1-4). God has provided what we need to satisfy this appetite by giving us beauty in nature, color, harmony, design, order. When man deprives himself of this natural tendency he will have a deep feeling of dissatisfaction. Man was made to appreciate. God has given us an emotional nature. This basic characteristic makes him tune in to his surroundings. Emotion is especially pertinent to human relationships--friendship, camaraderie, erotica. Man loves, he hates. He laughs, he cries. He appreciates, he disdains. He hurts, he feels good. He gets angry, he is passive. “Jesus wept” (Jno. 11:35) is a statement about his emotional nature. When the situation calls for it and we don’t cry we’re apt to have it well up in us until sometime later a veritable emotional explosion takes place. Furthermore, something is seriously wrong with a person who sees no humor in life. Contentment in this area is hard to achieve, but is a supreme satisfaction when it is achieved. Man is made to feel. God has given us a soul. This soul must be fed just like the body (Mt. 4:4). There is a hunger that attends man’s moral nature just like that which is physical, and when it is not attended to there is not only an unfulfilled appetite, but serious consequences may result to the body’s health. God has given His word to satisfy man’s hunger for the soul (Jno. 6:35). His conscience cries out to God for relief out of his recognition of his sins, and God provides (I Pet. 3:21). “The appeal to God for a clear conscience” is an effort to satisfy the longing for forgiveness. Worship is the provision for man’s inherent need for recognition by his Creator. The local church and its various activities serve to provide man with the need for spiritual fellowship. Man is made to glorify God. With faith God appeals to a man’s intellect. With repentance He appeals to man’s emotions and will. With obedience (first baptism, then faithful participation) He appeals to man’s desire to be recognized and be in fellowship Him. Special things satisfy special needs. When I’m hungry for popcorn, only popcorn will satisfy. When I hunger for exercise, only some strenuous activity will satisfy. When I long for good music, nothing else will do. When I long for my beloved Norma, only she can warm my heart. And when I have an ardent longing for recognition by my Creator, only He and His methods will answer my needs. Satisfaction is a fine feeling. Being unfulfilled has a gnawing effect on a person. The only real satisfaction is that which comes from the knowledge that you’ve done your best to serve and reverence God (Eccles. 12:13). After all, that’s what man is all about.

UPON HIS RETURN from the Scopes trial in 1925, H. L. Mencken told a story of one of the leading citizens of Dayton who was a staunch prohibitionist but also spent much of his time half stewed. This citizen went home one evening after drinking a bit too much and told his wife he was sick and that she would have to do the evening praying alone. He went to bed but he could hear his wife on her knees in the next room. She began: "Oh, Lord, throw the mantle of Thy mercy around my drunken husband." He bolted up in bed and shouted to his wife, "Gracious, woman, don't tell Him I'm drunk; say I'm sick." No one believes such nonsense. But millions act like they do. The recent public spectacle of a famous television preacher trapped by immorality is not new, nor is the use of deceit to try to escape the consequences of sin. it is difficult for the mighty to humble themselves and say, "I have sinned." But it is not only difficult for the mighty; it is onerous for all of us. Fortunate is the man who has never been entangled in the treacherous descent from immorality, to lying, to a life of deceit, fleeing the public price of sin. One pays a terrible cost for hypocrisy. We sacrifice the cleansing grace of a penitent heart, brought low by the chastisement of conscience (2 Cor 7:10).​ We lose our ability to identify with others, to comfort and instruct those who carry such burdens in their own lives (Gal 6:1-5).​ And, above all, we forfeit our honor and self-respect (​2 Pt 1:9​). Somewhere, deep in my heart, I know that I lie to myself as well as to others. So it is that one sin unacknowledged leads me deeper and deeper into the throes of deceit. Without self-respect, without the answer of a good conscience, the will to do right has perished. Public wrong can rarely be hidden successfully; its public acknowledgement is the road to God's forgiveness and our own reformation. But even more dangerous is the private deceit which threatens the integrity of my conscience. There is much about me that you do not know, and you will never know. But I know, and God knows. it is between me and Him that deceit becomes most deceitful. I have never believed that public recitals of private sins served either God or man. But the soul searching, closet prayer of a penitent heart is the biblical road to forgiveness and personal reconstruction. The most curious facet of the story of the Tennessee drunk is the image of God that it presents. Can we hide from God? Such thinking, callously pursued, denigrates God; it obscures His eternal presence and majesty; it contributes to the frivolous modern concept of powerless divinity. I confess that I guard my behavior for many different reasons. I value my family and loved ones; I am humbled by the esteem of others; I would not want to risk my job and the stability of my life. But, for all of that, I know that I can, if I will, run and hide. it may be risky, but I can sin and deceive. The gyroscope of my life must be a God consciousness. I live in His presence. He is with me everywhere I go--for good or evil. He watches, along with heavenly hosts, the adulterer and the liar. Will you do such dark and repulsive things in His presence? It is chilling to think such thoughts. Of course, I do sin in His presence. And when I do, as I should, I fall remorsefully on my face and pray that He will do what I cannot do--remember it no more. It is a grand and awesome truth that I cannot forget my sins; they are painfully etched on my conscience for a lifetime. But He who knows all, has chosen to know no more. The majestic truth can be thus stated: if you deceive yourself and pretend that He does not know--He knows. If you humble yourself and pray forgiveness for what He knows - He no longer knows. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------