"Yes, God is your answer, Tom Brady!"

On 60 Minutes the 28 year-old quarterback who has won three championships, who has a $60 million contract with the New England Patriots, said, “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, it's got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be.” Now let me say up-front and clearly, I don't know Tom and nothing of his spiritual life, but that sure looks like a statement of spiritual hunger to me. As I heard him make that statement, I wished I could have the opportunity to spend a few days with him helping him explore his relationship with God. To all appearances, Brady is a 'good guy.' He isn't known for selfishness, for carousing, for using drugs. He loves his family. But, morality is not the same as godliness. Being good, is not the same as knowing God.

There a deception that is as old as Eden and as current as today, that is not unique to West or East, young or old, brown or white - "Satisfaction will be mine when I have _________; when I achieve _______!" It is true there is a measure of joy to be found in owning things, in earning a place in our world. But the joy of life is found in finding and living in God's purpose. When a person knows that they are doing what God made them to do, that they are filling the place in this world God created them to fill, that they are pleasing Him - they experience satisfaction. I know that God wants me to be a pastor to His people. Sure, I get tired and complain about life, from time to time, but at the core of me being, I know that there is nothing else in the world I could do that would let me fulfill my purpose. When I have the opportunity to share the life of Jesus Christ or to help someone else discover God's plan - it lights up my life! Serving the local church is not a career for me; it's a calling.

Tom Brady has a calling! You have a calling, too! "Do you mean we should become pastors, Jerry?" Not necessarily! That could be, but you might be called to be a plumber, or a carpenter, or a full-time Mom, or a doctor, or a teacher. "Those are callings?" you ask, "they sound like jobs to me." That's my point! The most satisfied people in the world are those who know WHY, and for WHOM, they are doing WHAT they do. Knowing peace and satisfaction is the result of "being" not "doing." Of course, being in Christ has an effect on what we do, but we need to start with the heart. Even Tom Brady senses that championships and money are a temporary reward. In a decade or so, some other guy will come along who will win games and get the adulation. But, if Brady plays football for God and uses the fame and money that comes with the success for God's purposes, his life will take on a transcendent quality that time cannot erase.

Here's a word from the Word. Ponder this invitation today. If your life isn't satisfying, consider God's offer. If you have embraced the Lord's purposes but are being seduced by the tempter's songs, consider the promise of real satisfaction offered.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. ...

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." -- Isaiah 55:1-12 NIV