Drunken Satisfaction
Intoxication isn’t the only kind of drunken state. When is the last time you were around a newborn? Because newborn babies regularly pass out drunk on mother’s milk. The contentment of a tiny baby, warm and cuddly, utterly dependent and utterly satisfied is a beautiful picture of how we should feel when we spend time in God’s Word.1
Do you ever feel that way after spending time in God’s Word? Do you feel embraced by the love of your Heavenly Father and sustained by His goodness? Do you feel that the dumpster fires are temporarily irrelevant? That you can focus on the unmerited grace and mercy that are bestowed upon you? That you can feel an almost drunken satisfaction that He is for you and nothing can ever change that? I wish I could say that I feel all of this every time I spend time in the Word, but it’s not every time.
So what keeps us from this divine satisfaction? I have a couple of ideas. One I read in my Martin Lloyd-Jones devotional this morning (It’s kind of my perfect Saturday to take in the sunrise above with coffee in hand, read some Martin Lloyd-Jones, spend time in God’s Word and then write my own thoughts. Later I’ll swim laps with my husband, do some gardening and then watch some SEC football. And yet somehow Heaven is far better than we could ask or imagine). Lloyd-Jones said, “[W]e can do no greater violence to the New Testament doctrine than to represent the message of Christ’s birth as but some vague general message of goodwill and good cheer and happiness. That is not the message at all. If we do not start with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we are not absolutely clear about Him, then there is nothing.”
It’s convicting because I know I’ve written vague messages. But it is not about goodwill or happiness, it is about Jesus and His sacrifice. He paid the price so that we can have fellowship with God. That milk-drunk state of being is not attainable if you keep things whimsically shallow. Deep satisfaction is found in acknowledging your intrinsic unworthiness, in recognizing you could never deserve— no matter how committed you may be to being a “good” person — an ounce of grace. On a purely human level, a sober look at your own heart would be frightening; instead, paradoxically, it is the path to freedom. Our awareness of our need of Him increases our love for and appreciation of Him. He paid it all, lovingly and willingly.
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:5-6
Digging Deeper:
Do you agree with Lloyd-Jones that if we do not start with Jesus, then there is nothing? How do you think this relates to C.S. Lewis’s argument that the one thing Jesus cannot be is of moderate importance?
The apostle Peter said we should long for spiritual milk like newborn infants. How often do newborns nurse? How does this relate to us? Is being fed on Sundays sufficient?
Do you believe there is only one possible mediator? And if not, why did Jesus die on the cross?
God’s Word is both milk for babes and meat for the mature. While “milk” has a connotation of the basics, the “meat” of the faith represents broader knowledge and spiritual maturity. For example, mature believers are able to “distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14) and exhibit a greater level of trust in God’s Sovereignty.