Recently,
I found myself intrigued by a social commentator on the radio. The gentleman was making an argument that
people are not necessarily being selfish or materialistic when they are
unsatisfied and want more of something.
The commentator stated: “Man can
not be satisfied, cows can be satisfied but it is not in a man’s nature to be
satisfied he will always want more.”
While I cannot condone a materialistic outlook on life, the commentator
is stumbling on to a theological truth that merits consideration. Why is the cow able to obtain satisfaction on
an apparently lasting level while humans seem unable to do so? The Church (as well as the entire Christian
tradition) has given the answer to this question long ago. The cow can obtain satisfaction in material
things because the cow is a material being.
A quiet place to graze without predators is about all it takes to keep a
cow happy because a cow’s nature is not intended for anything greater. A human person, on the other hand, can not
find lasting satisfaction or happiness in possessions, relationships or power
because such earthly things can not fulfill a nature that is not solely
material. Humans are unique in creation
as being both body and soul, material and spiritual. While the body hungers and thirsts for finite
physical things, the soul is made to love God.
This is why people can not find lasting happiness even in human love,
for while love is a spiritual thing, the human heart is made to love and be loved
by the infinite God who is love Himself, no mere finite human love can
adequately replace this. This is also
why many couples find that without God in their lives their marriage becomes a
life of suffering. Each of these
partners is trying to fill their own heart with the other while the human heart
will not be long content with anything other than the creator of all. Married couples can not be God to each other;
the result is all too often misery. It
was the discovery of this truth that led