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Equality in Addiction

The way of the hedonist fails. The tragedy is this : since we do not find lasting pleasures, and do not discover lasting satisfaction in them, our ability to find any satisfaction begins to disappear. The satisfaction addict is no more able to say 'I have had enough, I am satisfied' than is the drug addict. There is never enough in this world to satisfy us.
From a recent book I read by Sinclair Ferguson on The Pundit's Folly : Chronicles of An Empty Life. The book provides important reflections from the book of Ecclessiastes.  The quote is particularly incisive in noting that really at the core we are all no different from porn or drug addicts. We all have addicitions which cannot never be satisfied by the material things we crave. Needs which can only be satisfied by God himself. In the words of the Preacher, God has "set eternity in the hearts of men" with the consequential result that nothing in this life will truly satisfy us.

King Solomon said, "just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied". (Proverbs 27:20 NLT). Only something bigger than death itself can satisfy us. Augustine of Hippo recognised this very point when he cried to God, "You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You". There really is a God shaped hole in our hearts, despite the  shameful abuse of this truth by televangelists! 

Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2013
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