The human soul has three fundamental desires. 

God's satisfaction of these deep longings provides the foundation for true peace and joy in our lives. 

The first desire is for unconditional love and total acceptance; the second is for absolute and eternal security; and the third is for a sense of significance, that our lives really and truly matter.

Most of us have noticed that it is possible to gain the whole world without satisfying these needs of the soul.

Billy Joel became one of the most successful recording artists in the world.  At the height of his career, he won awards for Male Artist of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year.

During the 1980's, he managed to enjoy twenty Top 40 hits.  As his crowning musical achievement, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But in a recent interview, Joel admitted that he had never found fulfillment.

Baseball player Pete Rose reached one of the most coveted milestones of his sport:  he recorded more base hits than any player in history.

But the Baseball Hall of Fame refused to enshrine him.  Why?

Because it was proved that he was guilty of betting on baseball games.

After fourteen years of denials, he finally admitted to the charge in his book "My Prison Without Bars."

He, too, confessed to despair of an empty life.

Both singer and slugger discovered that wealth, fame and success cannot deliver the happiness they promise.

Joel said, "In my whole life, I haven't met the person I can sustain a relationship with yet . . . I'm angry with myself.  I have regrets."

Both Joel's marriages ended in divorce. "You don't get hugged by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" he said ruefully.

"I want what everybody wants: to love and be loved and to have a family."

Rose, who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars through gambling, declared, "A part of me was still looking for ways to recapture the high I got from winning batting titles and World Series.  If I couldn't get the high from playing baseball, then I needed a substitute to keep from feeling depressed.  I was driven - in gambling as well as in baseball.  Enough was never enough.  I had huge appetites, and I was always hungry."

How many more examples could you or I add to these two?

All history and all the world form together one great testimony to the human heart and its constant, desperate pursuit of fulfillment. 

Everywhere we go, we find that people are basically the same:  they have the same needs, the same desires, and the same anger and despair when they cannot fulfill them. 

In Western nations, our culture leads us to believe that material attainments can satisfy us:  if we simply collect enough wealth, we will be happy. 

Yet not only is there no evidence of that, but all the evidence points to the opposite conclusion. 

When the needs of the soul are ignored, misery and money escalate together because wealth becomes a master rather than a servant:  it uses us rather than the other way around.

How blessed we are to discover that those needs can be met, even if the world has no resources to meet them.

Jesus - the wonderful Jesus - will fill our every need.  And in particular, He will fill those three needs shared by every human being.
 
 
Pastor Jim