Twenty-first century Americans are unlike any other people in the history of humankind. Never before has there been so much affluence, so broad a range of choices, and such unbridled freedom to do pretty much whatever one pleases. And yet, the popular Rolling Stones' song still sums up what many of us are feeling—“I can’t get no satisfaction … I try, and I try, and I try, and I try.”

Somewhere along the line we became convinced that the more choices we have in life, the greater the likelihood that we will be satisfied. But that’s not always the case, is it? Imagine going into a store to purchase a pair of jeans—just plain, ordinary jeans. It seems simple enough; except that these days you are liable to encounter a dizzying array of choices. Do you want slim fit? Easy fit? Relaxed? Stonewashed? Acid-washed? Button-fly? Zipper-fly? And on and on it goes.

Let’s face it; we enjoy more options today than folks fifty years ago could have ever dreamed of—and yet, studies show that we are not any happier, or more satisfied with life, than previous generations. Indeed, some believe that the reason so many of us are stressed out is because, unlike our great grandparents, we feel the pressure to choose and create an identity, rather than accepting the identity that God has already given us. As the writer James Howell so aptly put it: “We feel empty, not because there’s this gaping hole in our lives, but because we have filled it with all of the wrong stuff!”

It’s worth noting that Jesus did not speak much of “being satisfied”—at least not in the sense of sliding back in our easy chair after a big meal and thinking, “I am completely satisfied.” Actually, in the Parable of the Rich Fool, Jesus seems to point out that we will never achieve satisfaction by filling our bellies, or our barns, or even our bank accounts!

The way to have a full life, said Jesus, is to empty yourself—which, admittedly, sounds a bit like an oxymoron. But think of the experience of being in love. When you love somebody, you are no longer at the center of your own universe—suddenly, the one you love is! The more you love this other person, the more you begin to forget yourself, and even to deny yourself; and paradoxically, the more you deny yourself for the sake of the one you love, the more fully yourself you actually become.

In other words, the Rolling Stones may have had it right all along. We can’t get no satisfaction, no matter how hard we try. However, we can be given satisfaction by emptying ourselves and allowing God to fill us!