The following excerpt is from the book Play the Man by Mark Batterson
“The only thing that will ultimately satisfy our longing for more is more God.
I have a theory: the answer to every prayer is more of the Holy Spirit. We want more love, more joy, and more peace, but those are fruits of the Spirit. So what we need is more of the Holy Spirit. And that goes for the rest of the fruit, including the ninth fruit-self-control.
We think forbidden fruit will solve our problems, but it will only complicate them. The only fruit that satisfies is the fruit of the Spirit. Everything we want is the by-product of living a Spirit-led, Spirit-filled life.
One of this dragon’s most insidious lies is that God is holding out on you.
For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
God gave Adam the Garden of Eden rent-free! What more could you ask for? You guessed it – one more tree! For the record, there are twenty-three thousand varieties of trees in the world. Thousands of them are fruit trees orange, almond, cherry, mango, coconut, cashew, and olive, just to name a few. The apple tree alone comes in more than one hundred varieties! My point? Adam could have eaten different fruit from a different tree every day for at least three years! Did he really need one more?
Lust is a lie a lie that more sex, more food, more power, more applause, or more money will satisfy our wants and needs. It won’t. Did you know scientists have coined a term for this? They call it the “hedonic treadmill.” When you chase pleasure, you never stop running.
Augustine, who lived quite the hedonistic lifestyle before his encounter with Christ at the age of thirty-one, observed this tendency sixteen centuries ago: “A true saying it is, Desire hath no rest, is infinite in itself, endless, and as one calls it, a perpetual rack, or horse-mill.”
Horse-mill, treadmill – same difference. The Dragon of Lust is never satisfied. The more you feed it, the hungrier it gets. Pick a pleasure, any pleasure. It slowly loses its ability to satisfy in the same dose, the same frequency. Over time it takes more and more to satisfy less and less. It’s true of success – you’re only as good as your last game, your last deal. It’s true of money; money might solve some problems, but it creates others. Of course, we all want to test that theory, thinking we’ll be the exception to the rule!
Reality check: enough is never enough.
Lust is selfish – it’s consumed with getting what it wants.
Love is sacrificial – it’s consumed with giving what it has.
The only way to meet your deepest needs is by meeting the deepest needs of others!
Satisfaction is found on the far side of sacrifice. And that’s what playing the man is all about The Three-Headed Dragon is a daunting foe, but he’s a defeated foe. We’ve got the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit on our side! And if God is for us, who can be against us?”
p. 72-73, Play the Man, Mark Batterson