I’m reading a book called Balancing Your Family, Faith & Work by Pat Gelsinger. Pat is the Senior VP in charge of the biggest technology group at Intel, the Digital Enterprise Group. I wanted to record here some of the ideas that impacted me and why.

When my time on earth is complete I want to be like Paul and have run the good race (2 Tim. 4:7) and used up every ounce of energy, minute of time, and dollar of resources for his purpose and kingdom.

I think I’ve had this idea in the back of my head for a long time, and have feared it. I feared what I would lose by trying to ‘give my all.’ But lately, I’ve been seeing that living this way yields the most satisfaction. What is satisfaction? I think it’s essentially our closeness to perfection (in abstract) or how close our heart is God (what to actually pursue). This equation comes about when pursuing perfection if “perfection” is a personal God.

Everyone derives satisfaction from all sorts of things on a short and long term basis. Eating a great meal is a small bump in our satisfaction level over a short period of time. Being happily married and raising a family can be a large source of satisfaction over a long period of time. But every experience in our life can operate in isolation, or contribute to the slope of our life over time as time goes to eternity (infinity in the x axis). Are we using and allowing experiences to bring us closer to perfection and keep us there (infinity in the y axis)? I.e. do we change for the better – become closer to God? Or do we return to where we were?

I think of the satisfaction bumps as divine updrafts – blessings from God. But we don’t have wings. We don’t have the means to approach heaven over an infinity of time (consistently change for the better and grow closer to God). The only one who can forever bring us along closer to infinity is infinity Himself. Our own efforts at life result in death by chaos (sin) or death by crystallization (law). We don’t have a source of eternal life within us. If we are to gain ever greater satisfaction, we need to put to death our independence and rely on God. God has made this possible by creating a space/time connection to us through Jesus. He enables us to relate to the infinite without being burned away in our imperfection. He provides our perfect example. And obeying Him as Lord gives us the wings we need to approach x/y infinity (eternity/perfection).

Cheesy graphs NOT TO SCALE. ENLARGED TO SHOW TEXTURE. INFINITY NOT DEPICTED.
Satisfaction in Ourselves	Satisfaction in Christ

As I was reading this book I rediscovered that this process isn’t completely about sacrifice and self-denial. It is the most rewarding path possible. My fears were real, but unfounded. The key is Christ – without Him, I do have the downslope of every temporal satisfaction to look forward to. With Him, I can look forward to infinite love and joy.