Does your mind often wander to other places? Thinking about what you would like. Where you would like to be. Thinking about how you wish your life was different.

You know, we all think about these things at times. Regrets we have. Things we wish we had done (or done differently). Choices we've made, how we would change them. How our lives would be different now. If we had, "just" done things differently. Made different decisions.

We all think about these things. And there's not a person who doesn't!

Especially in the "unsettled" times of our lives. The times when we feel anxious. When we feel our, "lives have passed us by". And these can be the times when we feel so unsatisfied. With where we are at. The "goings on", or lack of in our lives. The times when we truly feel dissatisfied.

And this is understandable. We often set such high expectations and goals for ourselves. For our lives.

But the reality is this. Life does not often turn out the way we had wished it had. Many of us who have had difficult times, know this all too well. Life can be hard!

And we know that life is short.

 ....And this is reality!

Now, if we see things through the eyes of the world? Life can be much more of a disappointment. Gains and losses, these can seem more pointless. Pointless in a life that sees little purpose in its very existence.

But you know what? As believers in Jesus. It should be different for us. Why? Because unlike the world, we have a hope. We know that there is more for us. Not just what is in this world. But the hope we find in Christ:

 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."

                   (John 14:1-4 NKJV)

But yet we tend to focus on what the world chases after. The things of the world. "status", "money", "fame", being "known" for something great, or just to be known!

But, you see God did not save us to make us like the rest of the world. He saved us, to make us different! To make us more like His Son:

 "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."

                    (Romans 8:29 NKJV)

Not the "sons" of the world!

But yet, we usually are not very satisfied with this. Are we? To be conformed to Christ's image. To just be "sons and daughters" of God. We would rather have the "nice things" of the world. The "status" of others we may consider to be better, than ourselves, or others. We want more!

We are never content to be just like our master:

 "Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also."

                     (John 15:20 NKJV)

But yet we are called to be just like Him. To suffer for His sake. To take up our cross daily and follow Him:

 "Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me."

                       (Luke 9:23 NKJV)

To serve others (JN 13:14). To be just like Him!

You see we forget that Jesus came into this world, a "nothing", by the world's standards. Someone whom the world did not respect, nor esteem:

 "For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
      And as a root out of dry ground.
      He has no form or comeliness;
      And when we see Him,
      There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 
       He is despised and rejected by men,
      A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
      And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
      He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 
       Surely He has borne our griefs
      And carried our sorrows;
      Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
      Smitten by God, and afflicted."

           (Isaiah 53:2-4 NKJV)

And not much has changed, has it? Afterall, we know what the world (as a whole) thinks of Jesus!

And we are called to be like Him. But it's hard for us to fathom this. To be just like Him! But yet we are called to be. For He is our "Rabbi".

And what is the Rabbi? The Rabbi is the master, the (Hebrew) teacher of the law. The one who taught you all you needed to know. The one you would follow. His teachings, life and example.

 And what did it mean to follow your Rabbi? It meant that you were to imitate His example. And that is just what we are called to do. Imitate His very example!

The example of a servant:

 "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, "Lord, are You washing my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this." Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you." For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, "You are not all clean." So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."

                   (John 13:3-17 NKJV)

We are called to serve! Not to be served!! Just like Jesus. But we always fight it, don't we? That "internal" struggle. We want, we desire to be just like Jesus. But yet we fight dying to ourselves. We keep holding onto the world!

Now, does this mean we cannot enjoy the things of this world? No, of course not! And it does not mean that we "isolate" ourselves. But it does mean that we find our satisfaction in Him alone. He is to be our focus. Not the world!

If we always look to the world to find our satisfaction, we will never find any! We will only have doubts and regrets in our lives. But if we keep our eyes focused on Jesus. And we remember that this is not our home. That we are looking for the one to come. And we serve Him the best we can. We will have real peace and satisfaction (1 Tim. 6:6)!

You see, we need to keep things in "focus". We need to remember who is in control:

"Be still, and know that I am God;
         I will be exalted among the nations,
         I will be exalted in the earth!"

               (Psalm 46:10 NKJV)

God has been, and will always be, GOD!

And as believers in Christ, we have to see the spiritual. The world sees only the physical. The temporal. If we, like the world, focus on what we see (in the physical). We will miss what is going on behind the scenes. We will miss what God is really doing!

You see we need to trust Him:

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
      And lean not on your own understanding; 
       In all your ways acknowledge Him,
      And He shall direct your paths."

            (Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV)

And know He is at work:

 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

                    (Romans 8:28 NKJV)

 That He is always in control:

 "You rule over the surging sea;
        when its waves mount up, you still them."

                      (Psalm 89:9 NIV)

"A man’s heart plans his way,
      But the LORD directs his steps."

            (Proverbs 16:9 NKJV)

No matter what place in life we are in. God is still in full control. No one has, nor can they, remove Him from His throne:

"The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
       and his kingdom rules over all."

                (Psalm 103:19 NIV)

He is still God!

But when we take our eyes off Him and onto the world. We will be filled with sorrow.

Why? Because we begin to forget who we really are in Him. We begin to compare our lives with those around us. We chase after "empty" and "meaningless" things. We try and build our own happiness. And we soon have regrets.

And in the end, this is what we learn:

"Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
       and what I had toiled to achieve,
       everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun."

               (Ecclesiastes 2:11 NIV)

So you see, we have to remember where, and who we put our faith in. And we have to remember what faith is:

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

                   (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV)

Our faith is our evidence!

And our hope does NOT disappoint us:

 "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

                     (Romans 5:5 NIV)

The same Holy Spirit which He has given as our guarantee:

 "Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."

              (2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NKJV)

You see real satisfaction in life comes from knowing God intimately. Knowing who He is. Who you are in Him. Your worth. And serving Him the best that you can, as He leads you. This is where real satisfaction is found!

John Piper (the Baptist preacher and author) once said, 'God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him'.

So ask yourself this. Are you really satisfied in Him?

So you see, we can either fix our eyes on Jesus. Find real purpose, truth and life. Real satisfaction!

Or we can fix our eyes on the world. And sadly learn in the end, what ALL the world eventually learns:

"I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind."

                   (Ecclesiastes 1:14 NIV)

And is that what we really want? 

I once heard a worship song by Charlie Hall. It went something like this. 'And all of life comes down to just one thing, and that's to know you, oh Jesus, and to make you known'.

So what does all of life, come down too for you?

You see we all have a choice in this life. We can either choose to continue to run the race set before us:

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

               (Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV)

And yes, we fall at times. Make mistakes. Have "growing pains" (and for many of us those can be "growing pangs"). But yet get back up when we fall. with God's help of course. And keep persevering (for more info click here: It's all about perseverance...).

 Or we can choose to put our trust and hope, in the things of this world. That will always leave us empty and unsatisfied.

For me, personally? I've only found real satisfaction in Jesus. The rest always left me sad and disappointed. Knowing that He really loves me and accepts me for me. And gave His life for me. That in Him I have purpose and real life. Means more to me, than all the riches of the world.

So what about you? Are you really satisfied?