When You Can’t Get No Satisfaction

Because true, abundant life is found only in your living Savior, not in the stuff you own.

I wish you could have met our dog Molly. As is typical with golden retrievers, she was everyone’s best friend. Her tail wagged at the sight of each person she saw. Everything about her announced, “Let’s be pals!” You would have loved her.

And she would have loved you, especially if you gave her a dog biscuit. She lived for them!

She would eat them as long as you kept giving them.

One day I tested her limit. After she’d eaten a bowl of dog food, I gave her a treat. Down it went. I offered a second. Gulp. A third. She ate it. A fourth, fifth, a dozen. She gobbled them all. I filled her dish with biscuits. She inhaled them. She was a Hoover vacuum cleaner.

Surely, she will eventually have her fill, I thought. I was wrong. After thirty biscuits, she was still panting for more. I quit giving them before she quit wanting them. Her appetite was insatiable. She always wanted more.

I wish I wasn’t so much like Molly.

I can honestly say I’ve never craved a dog biscuit. But other desires? I’ve drooled over new cars when mine was in perfect shape. I’ve bought a new suit when I had barely worn suits hanging in my closet. My laptop does everything I need. Then why do I give serious thought to updating my equipment? Why do I always want more?

If only our longings were limited to shopping. We can be equally insatiable when it comes to:

Popularity: How can I attract more followers on social media?

Power: I deserve more control.

Entertainment: I’ve just got to get the new video game.

Blame our appetites on dopamine. It is the happy chemical. We have some 86 billion neurons in our brains. They are constantly creating circuits to reward behavior, releasing dopamine.

Consider, for example, the case of the 70-year-old woman who couldn’t stop buying rabbits. Each purchase would cycle into remorse and regret … until the next day when she would buy another rabbit.

Why the obsession? She had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which scientists believe is caused by a lack of dopamine in some parts of the brain. A new rabbit resulted in a jolt of joy. And who can resist a jolt of joy?

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear points out that every behavior that is habit forming—smoking, shopping, eating, sex—is associated with higher levels of dopamine. Our brain releases the chemical not only when we experience the behavior but also when we anticipate it. He wrote: “Gambling addicts have a dopamine spike right before they place a bet, not after they win. Cocaine addicts get a surge of dopamine when they see the powder, not after they take it. … It is the anticipation of a reward not the fulfillment of it that gets us to take action.”

Advertisers get this. They are coming at us from all angles. Commercials. Pop-ups. Emails. Text messages. Unless you live in a cave, you are barraged by a daily deluge of messages: Buy me. Drink me. Eat me. Wear me.

While driving on a major interstate, I decided to test this theory. How many advertisements would I see in 60 seconds? They appeared on billboards, trucks, and road signs. The total? Eleven. Extrapolate that number over the duration of my trip, and I was exposed to nearly 2,000 messages. They told me to hire a new lawyer, eat BBQ, gas up my car, and vote for so and so.

Our ancestors never weathered this monsoon of marketing. We do, however. We resonate with the Rolling Stones when they tell us, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” Consequently, any discussion about managing our thoughts must include a chapter about managing our cravings.

Jesus wants us to know the truth. “Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot” (Luke 12:15 MSG).

Greed sires unhappiness.

To be clear, Jesus is not anti-stuff. He is certainly not anti-bunnies. He does urge caution, however, when we assume consumption leads to contentment.

Define yourself by stuff, and you’ll feel good when you have a lot—and you’ll feel rotten when you don’t. There is no life in stuff. But abundant life is found in Christ.

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Excerpted from Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life by Max Lucado Copyright © 2025 by Thomas Nelson Books. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. www.thomasnelson.com