In November 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time." The magazine received input from over 170 musicians, critics, and industry personnel. Yet, even with layers of criteria and objective measurements, music still is - and always will be - a subjective preference. I'm not crying foul... but given the sponsoring magazine, I found it quite ironic that the #1 song was Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" and the #2 song was "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by (...you guessed it) the Rolling Stones.

For some reason, when I woke up this morning I was thinking about the song "Satisfaction" and how it has stood up well for 44 years. Keith Richards's three-note guitar riff is one of the most recognizable scores in all of modern music. Yet, it's the lyrics and theme that seem to truly transcend time. Mick Jagger shared that the song was a reaction to the rampant commercialism they saw in the U.S. Not much has changed in 4 decades.

The cliché response is to simply say, "Well, of course you won't find satisfaction... until you find Jesus." Case closed... right? Well, that's not where I'm going.

You see, I've been a dedicated Christ-follower since the age of 5. I graduated from a well-known Christian college with a minor in Bible Theology. My first vanity license plate was "JEZUZ 11". And while I won't deny that Jesus fills a void that nothing else can, I cannot honestly say that I am fully satisfied. Although God has redeemed all of creation (myself included), there is this groaning & longing for the day when He will restore all things.

One song I feature this week is Ben Shive's "Nothing for the Ache" - which artistically shares about the universal cry of dissatisfaction with which our souls are born. Consumerism, greed, pride, and lust will only grow in our culture. Our longing for meaning and ultimate satisfaction will either drive us deeper into those things, or (as Ben sings) we will fall "in the arms of God."

That's a challenge for my own life. If you, like me, are following Jesus, but still feeling dissatisfied at times, we can allow that longing to draw us into a worldly consumerism... or deeper in the arms of God. May those empty corners of our lives help us long for the Day of restoration that awaits us.