{"id":1963,"date":"2014-11-20T23:58:25","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T23:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/?p=1963"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:19:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T17:19:04","slug":"i-hope-you-are-dissatisfied","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/i-hope-you-are-dissatisfied\/","title":{"rendered":"I Hope You Are Dissatisfied"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you feeling blessed this year? I hope you\u2019re gratified again with life\u2019s blessings \u2014 but not too satisfied.<\/p>\n<p>We are indeed a blessed people with much to be thankful for. Our most meager conditions in this country are rich compared to the world\u2019s majority.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The blessings aren\u2019t all physical possessions. Our founders declared this a nation of \u201cfree\u201d people, where average citizens could choose their course of life. Much of the world wakes up every day to live (and sometimes <em>give<\/em>) their lives for a king or dictator. America has long been the hope of the \u201ctired and poor\u201d and \u201chuddled masses\u201d yearning to be free.<\/p>\n<p>Major cultural changes have occurred in our country, but for the most part, we are happy for our blessings. While much of the world has long lived on a subsistence level, we live in a land of plenty. We would be remiss to <em>not<\/em> be thankful.<\/p>\n<p>And yet my heart grieves. The American Dream is a lovely thing, but it isn\u2019t the dream God had for us when He created humanity. The very best this world offers falls pitifully short of what God had in mind. This is not the way it\u2019s supposed to be.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Unknown bliss<\/h2>\n<p>I wonder what life was like in Eden: walking and talking with God and knowing Him in perfect trust, without the clutter and clatter of this world. We don\u2019t even <em>miss<\/em> what we\u2019ve missed out on. To us, our world is how it\u2019s always been. We don\u2019t recognize the torment and limitations on our lives because we have never known otherwise and because we are so distracted by a material world.<\/p>\n<p>A children\u2019s Bible story book we have paints the story so well. Adam and Eve had wanted for nothing and didn\u2019t know of a way contrary to God. They had no concept of deception, envy, or strife \u2014 no predators or inclement weather. They lived in harmony with their loving Creator and all creation.<\/p>\n<p>The book goes on to describe (with some license) how blissful Eden must have been and how devastating it was to be banished from it: alone, out in the cold, and all but completely severed from God. I\u2019ve read this Bible account often but never grasped the magnitude of the loss of Eden nor wept for the loss.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Restoration<\/h2>\n<p>In a sense, you and I have also been banished from that garden. We don\u2019t dwell on it or miss it \u2014 because we never knew it. To us, America is as good as it gets. This is our home, where we belong, right?<\/p>\n<p>I hope not. Jesus has bought back our inheritance. He has made a way for us to have that \u201cEden experience\u201d \u2014 and much more. I hope America and this way of life is not our \u201cbowl of soup\u201d that we are willing to buy in exchange for our birthright.<\/p>\n<p>I love this country. I love what it was founded on and the role it has played in history. We have it good here on Earth, but this country isn\u2019t the answer. It\u2019s been comfortable \u2014 too comfortable. Our hearts and minds should always yearn for that higher calling, not higher incomes. And if that means we seem a little out of step with our culture, so be it.<\/p>\n<p>A prayer written by Sir Francis Drake (a pirate, of all people!) sums it up well:<\/p>\n<p>Disturb us, Lord, when\/We are too pleased with ourselves,\/When our dreams have come true\/Because we have dreamed too little,\/When we arrived safely\/Because we sailed too close to the shore.\/Disturb us, Lord, when\/With the abundance of things we possess\/We have lost our thirst\/For the waters of life;\/Having fallen in love with life,\/We have ceased to dream of eternity\/And in our efforts to build a new earth,\/We have allowed our vision\/Of the new Heaven to dim.\/Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,\/To venture on wider seas\/Where storms will show Your mastery;\/Where losing sight of land,\/We shall find the stars.\/We ask You to push back\/The horizons of our hopes;\/And to push back the future\/In strength, courage, hope, and love.\/This we ask in the name of our Captain,\/Who is Jesus Christ.*<span class=\"ba_end_icon\">BA<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>*Sources:<\/em> <em>freshworship.org\/node; echurchprayer.wordpress.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you feeling blessed this year? I hope you\u2019re gratified again with life\u2019s blessings \u2014 but not too satisfied. We are indeed a blessed people with much to be thankful for. Our most meager conditions in this country are rich compared to the world\u2019s majority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":273,"featured_media":1964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>I Hope You Are Dissatisfied - Bible Advocate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/i-hope-you-are-dissatisfied\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Hope You Are Dissatisfied - Bible Advocate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are you feeling blessed this year? 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