How many of you recognize this candy bar? (Hold up a Snickers bar.) Just about everyone. I remember being introduced to Snickers when I was very young. It was and probably still is my dad’s favorite candy bar. I remember very clearly going to church and Sunday School when my home congregation had two services. Sometimes, my mom was asked to play organ for both services. We’d usually attend the first service, go to Sunday school, and then while mom was playing the second service, dad would take us to the local Maverick Market–how many of you remember that chain store? Anyway, we’d go down to the local Maverick Market and pick up a snack and go to a playground for half an hour or so before heading back to pick up my mom.
I remember dad gave us each a dollar to purchase a drink and a candy bar. It seemed like dad always got a Snickers. Eventually, I’d get one too and enjoy the chocolate, caramel, and peanuts. It was a snack which, in the words of the Snicker’s ad campaign today, truly satisfied.
Perhaps you have seen some of the commercials Snickers has put out recently. Beginning with the Betty White Super Bowl commercial, Snickers has gone on a marvelous campaign to convince all of us who get hunger pangs from time to time that their candy bar will truly satisfy our hunger. It will calm our cravings. And according to the Snicker’s folks, this is a good thing because when we get hungry, we are not ourselves. We transform into weak, irritable, cranky, angry people. We must be satisfied in order to be happy.
Snickers is actually picking up on a train of thought which psychologists have articulated for quite some time. Anyone here remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? I remember being taught this pyramid pretty early on in my education. You begin with physical needs. Once those are met, then you can advance a level into safety needs. Once those are met, you move into the need for love and belonging. Once that is met, you can advance to the level of esteem. Finally, once esteem needs are met, you can reach the peak which Maslow called Self Actualization. Each of these levels is predicated upon being satisfied–physically, emotionally, and psychologically. If needs aren’t met, a person can never be fully who he or she can be.
I’ve got a bone to pick with Maslow because I personally wonder if such needs can ever be satisfied. I mean bear with me for just a little bit. Take for instance, this Snickers bar. It’s not very big as far as things are concerned. The ads say it will satisfy my hunger. Well, I’m feeling a little bit hungry right now, so I’m going to munch down on this little piece of candy. Mmm. It is good. But I wouldn’t say that it’s actually satisfied my hunger. I’ve still got that taste of chocolate in my mouth. That’s a really pleasant taste for me by the way. I love chocolate. In fact, that little bit of chocolate has only managed to whet my appetite. I want more. Before I ate that candy bar, I wasn’t craving chocolate. Now, I want more. So instead of satisfying my hunger, it actually made it worse.
There are some reasons for that, I think. One of them being, for most people who are not allergic to chocolate, the body releases endorphins when you eat it. Now, endorphins are chemicals in your body that make you feel good. When you eat chocolate, you get a "fix". Your body enjoys that "fix" and it wants to feel more of it. The more chocolate you eat, the more endorphins get released, and the better you feel, at least for a short time. But the body is never, really satisfied. It wants more. And more and more.
Interestingly enough, I have read a few things which suggest the body does something similar when we go shopping. Yes, some have suggested there are endorphins which are triggered when we go buy things. Ever wonder why some people tend to be shopaholics? Ever wonder why some people have an insatiable appetite when it comes to spending money and appropriating goods? Perhaps it is because it makes them feel good to get something for themselves. But, that fix is short lived. Because there is always more to be bought.
On the flip side of that, did you know that helping someone else feels good as well? Did you know that helping others releases the same endorphins as buying something for yourself? Of course, the studies that I have seen suggest that the endorphins that are produced by helping someone last longer than the ones that happen when you shop which may be a goose for some of us to think outside of ourselves once in a while. And there are many people who keep wanting to help others, even to the point they neglect themselves or neglect their families. Why? Well, they are never satisfied with helping. There’s always one more person to help. One more life to save. And some folks never get enough of it.
Oh, I think I could keep adding to this list. Hunger, shopping, helping others, drinking, sex, buying a sports car, moving into a bigger house, desiring what my neighbor has, playing video games, surfing the internet, chatting in chat rooms, meeting other people, receiving pats on the back for something we have done, all of these things can make us feel good. They can cause reactions within us as we think we are finding satisfaction while we are doing them. But...but do they really and truly satisfy? Do they take away our physical, emotional, and psychological hungers? They certainly may alleviate them for a time, but they will not take them away. Let me repeat that, they will not take them away. If we ever think we will be completely satisfied by simply eating, drinking, having sex, shopping, helping others or what have you, we are sorely mistaken. These things will never, ever satisfy. Sorry, Snickers. You are wrong.
So what can satisfy? What can give us fulfillment?
St. Paul writes in our second lesson this morning, "5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, 8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."
When we believe all of the things I talked about earlier will lead to our satisfaction, we are setting our minds on the things of the flesh. We are seeking to satisfy our own desires. We are seeking to satisfy our own hungers, and they will never dissipate. When we set our minds on the desires of our flesh, we will be so overcome with them that we will willingly break God’s law to have them satisfied. And what is the cure?
"Set your mind on the things of the Spirit." Set your mind on the things of God. Look to Him as the one who satisfies. Make Him the ultimate concern in your life, and you will not hunger. You will find life and peace. Amen.
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