To the Unsatisfied American
{ NOVEMBER 10, 2016 }
Well here we are in 2016 with our new president-elect, Donald Trump. (Let me preface this post by simply saying that this blog post is not at all about my support or lack there of towards Trump or Clinton.)
When looking back, we recall that President Obama won the election with a very simple slogan, “Change We Can Believe In.” Here we are 8 years later and Donald Trump wins the election with the slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Bet you’ve never seen those two side beside before, right? But lets look at them again;
Change We Can Believe In // Make America Great Again
When we look at both of these winning slogans we see an appeal to one direct person: the unsatisfied American.
In 2008, President Obama appealed to the people who were feeling forgotten, underprivileged, and were tired of the way President Bush ran things. Obama absolutely swept the floor in that election because people were desperate for change. They were absolutely and completely dissatisfied with the state of our country and believed that Obama would satisfy them.
But now we see that President-elect Trump has won over our country by once again, reaching out to those who are unsatisfied with the way government has run our country and our lives. His slogan basically says that America was great once, it isn’t anymore, and he can do what it takes to restore it.
Even marketing agencies have this figured out! The new iphone7 promises to have a better camera, better screen, better experience, better EVERYTHING… because we were unsatisfied with the iphone6, right?
So why is this? Is it because Americans are greedy and nothing is ever good enough for us? Some would say, “yes” but I don’t believe that this is why we are an unsatisfied people. (I’m also not saying that other people in other countries aren’t the same way. I just don’t know them as well!)
I believe that our answer is a rather old answer. C.S. Lewis said in his book, Mere Christianity,
If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.
Nothing can ever satisfy the human heart. I amend that statement to say this rather: Nothing earthly can ever satisfy the human heart. We struggle and we strive to improve the world around us and to find things that can fill us up and ease the pains of this world. Be comforted to know that this is just a part of the human condition. Paul spoke of it in Romans 8:19-23 when he said,
For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect his children. For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay—the things that overcame the world against its will at God’s command—will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy.
For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us—bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.
Nothing but eternity spent with Christ can ever satisfy. In His goodness, we have that “foretaste of future glory” that Paul speaks of. We are able to rest in His presence and allow Him to fill us up with His love. Yet even that leaves us longing for more of Him. We’re filled, but not satisfied because we are still in waiting.
So, unsatisfied American, take heart! There will come a day, when the children of God will step into glory, see Jesus face-to-face and be fully satisfied. But for now, we choose love. every. single. day. We choose to pray that it will be “on earth as it is in Heaven.” We choose to look at people the way Jesus does- free of condemnation and full of mercy. We ask the Father what He’s doing in the earth right now, and we join Him. We don’t look to each other, a significant other, or a political figure to satisfy the depth of our hearts but we lock arms with one another, help each other through pain and sorrow, and we keep our eyes set on eternity.
