Are the Rolling Stones the key to sanctification?
God isn’t interested in full people, but hungry people. That’s a theme in Scripture.
Remember when Gabriel announced Mary’s pregnancy? She responded by singing how God “has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty” (Luke 1:53).
Her baby then grew up to proclaim, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6).
God is interested in the spiritually hungry, the poor in spirit, not those who are self-satisfied.
The religious folks questioned Jesus on why He socialized with sinners, and He answered, “The healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick…For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12–13). He was being sarcastic.
He didn’t really think his critics were righteous, but self-righteous. They weren’t hungry, but full, of themselves. Jesus came for the spiritually sick and starving.
Spiritual junkies
Our problem is that we’re too easily gratified. We gorge on the spiritual equivalent of drugs or junk food because it’s abundant and near-at-hand: entertainment, social media, food, pleasure, sex, substances, alcohol, sports, even politics.
These stimuli produce dopamine in our brains, the neurochemical that makes us feel good—for a moment anyway. We quickly come down from that high wanting more, and the cycle continues. This is called an addiction.
According to Dr. Anna Lembke, a researcher at Stanford Medical School and author of Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, “We're not able to take joy in more modest rewards. Now, our drug of choice doesn't even get us high. It just makes us feel normal. And when we're not using, we're experiencing the universal symptoms of withdrawal from any addictive substance, which are anxiety, irritability, insomnia, dysphoria and craving.”
So we find ourselves crying with Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, “I can't get no satisfaction / 'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try!”
This is a biblical truth (Isaiah 55:2). Like drinking salt water when we’re parched, the things of the world only increase our thirst and we keep on guzzling until it kills us.
An endless heavenly high
Even Christians can find themselves in the wasteland of addiction. But the good news of Jesus is not something we offer only to unbelievers to tip them into the kingdom. The Gospel is for believers, daily sustaining us with the good news that God satisfies us in Christ.
Once you’ve truly tasted the gift of God’s grace, you’ll be ever hungry for more and more righteousness. More and more Jesus.
Think about it. If Jesus is eternal and infinite, boundlessly glorious and beautiful—and He is— then He’s a bottomless fountain you’ll drink from for eternity. He’s an endless feast. The more you partake of Christ, the more satisfied you’ll be, and the more you’ll desire Him.
“You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at you right hand” (Psalm 16:11). King David knew there would be no coming down off Heaven’s high.
Listen to your belly
The Lord wants you to cast all your anxieties on Him (1 Peter 5:7), yet many cast them into stress-eating, binge-watching, or scrolling social media.
These addictions anesthetize us from longing after God. Constant amusement leaves no headspace to think deeply about the health of our souls. Remember, amusement literally means not thinking.
So, take time to listen to your soul’s belly. Has your appetite for righteousness waned? Do you feel like your progress in godliness has plateaued or stagnated?
Here’s a radical suggestion. We have an ancient biblical tool to help calibrate our souls and sharpen our hunger for God: the spiritual discipline of fasting. It doesn’t have to be from food. Ask God to show you what you long for over and above Him. If secularists like Dr. Anna Lembke recommend dopamine fasts to help break a destructive cycle, surely Spirit-filled disciples can follow Jesus’s example to exercise self-control for godliness (1 Timothy 4:8).
Don’t be a glutton consuming whatever junk the world is dishing out, but “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). He’ll add all you need.
Start with prayer. Confess with the prophet Mick Jagger how you can’t get satisfaction in this world no matter how much you try. Then recognize with Saint Augustine, “You have formed me for Yourself, and my heart is restless till I find my rest in You.”
Andrew Belli has served as a pastor at Redeemer Fellowship Church in Watertown, MA and on the BCNE Board.
