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Unlikely Contentment

February 15, 2012 in Being Content with 0 Comments

When I first started blogging, one of my main focuses was on “being content.” Perhaps it was the season in my life, but I found that people around me, as a general rule, struggled with accepting the life that God had given them – and even more so – rejoicing in the life God had given them. Contentedness is not something that comes easy in a culture that tells us that we constantly need more stuff, more relationships, and more, more, more. Yet while it’s easy to blame the absence of contentedness on society, the truth is that the real culprit lies in the human heart. We aren’t discontent because a marketing message tells us we shouldn’t be (although it’s possible for that to fuel it); there’s another reason. If we aren’t God’s children, we aren’t content because we don’t have Him. If we are His kids, and we aren’t content, it’s because we don’t appreciate that because we have Him, there is nothing else that we need.

The ironic thing is that it’s hard to tell whether you find your contenedness in God until it’s tested. When things that you relied on or people that you counted on are taken away, you begin to understand whether contendness is found in them or in God. When dreams are shattered, when plans don’t work out as you intended, and when the future seems completely uncertain, and you are still hopefully confident because you know that God is on  your side, that’s true contentment. Contentment is easy when things are as expected; it’s harder when life has ceased to be predictable.

Yet we can see from Scripture that contentment in Christ can cause unlikely things to bring fulfillment. In 2 Corinthians 12:10, Paul writes:

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Dictionary.com says that being content means “satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else. ” So Paul not only accepted his weakness, his trials, and his persecutions, he was satisfied with them. He didn’t want anything else than what God had allowed in his life. And if God had allowed these things, he would be satisfied with them, because he knew that through them, God was doing a work.

In the midst of the hard times, it is difficult to see how God is working. We don’t understand the reason for the challenges, the heartache and the pain. In our minds, there is a much easier path to get to where we are going. And perhaps there is. But God is doing something with the path that we’re on. If, for His sake, we are willing to be satisfied with the things He has allowed in our life, we can expect that He will do great things with them. And that’s a reason to be content.

 

Volunteered

January 11, 2012 in Being Content with 0 Comments

In my life, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of volunteers. What repeatedly strikes me as odd, is how unhappy many volunteers seem. After all, presumably they are choosing to do whatever work in which they are engaged; what’s the purpose in complaining, when they simply can choose not to do it anymore?

Of course, on a grander scale complaints are not limited to volunteer work. They are many who refuse to follow God simply because of the list of complaints they have against Him. Chief on that list is usually that bad things happen to “good” people. “Why,” the argument goes, “should I follow a God who lets evil rain on the good?”

However, as R.C. Sproul, Jr. reminds us, “that only happened once, and He volunteered.” In other words, the only time that a truly good Person experienced evil was when His Son voluntarily went to the cross to die for our sins and rise again in order to conquer death (I. Cor. 15:3). There is no reason that God the Son “had to” provide this path of redemption, but He choose to because of “His great love for us.” He did it without complaining and without regard for His own personal comfort. He did it voluntarily – because of us.

This should cause us to realize that the question isn’t “why does God let bad things happen to evil people?” but “why does God let any good happen to evil people?” Until we are His children, we are in complete rebellion against Him. Yet God, in His mercy, “send[s] the rain on the just and the unjust” (Mt. 5:45). We experience what philosophers call His “common grace,” even though what we deserve is His abject wrath.

So when we do experience evil as a result of this sinful world in which we live, may we be mindful of the great sacrifice that our Lord willingly made for us. May this cause us to thank God for all the good that we are experiencing and to be content in Him even when we might think we have “reason” to complain.

 

How does the fact that Christ voluntarily went to the cross for us change our perspective when we experience bad things?

The State of Satisfaction

January 3, 2012 in Being Content with 0 Comments

We’re all probably familiar with the post-holiday meal stupor. Our tummies are filled, our hearts are light, and we relax into our favorite spot of the couch, content with what we’ve just consumed. It’s a good feeling; one that some people look forward to all year long.

We are also probably all used to what a friend laughingly referred to as the “hangries” – the state of emptiness that we feel when it’s been too long since our last meal. Our tummies are growling, our hearts are frustrated, and we anxiously try to satisfy our dearth of food.

The challenge for Christians is that too often we are content with keeping spiritual life in the second state. We know that we need to eat – to partake in the richness of God through prayer, Bible study, and fellowship – but instead of satisfying ourselves by feasting on what He has given us, we remain undernourished, anxious, and ill-fit to grow. God is offering His children a heart that is filled by Him, but instead we fill it with empty things, much like a child would fill their tummies with “empty calories” simply because of the momentary pleasure it might provide.

Knowing our need to fill our tummies, its no wonder that God often uses the analogy of food when talking about our relationship with Him. He calls Himself the “Bread of Life,” and doing His will “food.” Paul repeatedly writes about “spiritual milk” (see I Cor. 3:2, also I Peter 2:2). We need to know that the feeling of satisfaction we get from a good meal is greatly surpassed by the heart-filled satisfaction that comes from ingesting the Word of God and deepening our relationship with Him. He will satiate our deepest appetites. He will satisfy our heart’s grumbling.

Much like we look forward to the state of satisfaction that comes from a good meal, may we anticipate the heart-felt contentment that He offers daily to those who seek after Him.

How do you plan to find your satisfaction in God this coming year?

Bits & Pieces: Being Content

December 26, 2011 in Being Content with 0 Comments

In keeping with end-of-the year traditions of reflection and contemplation, I wanted to share the most-read posts of 2011. My hope was that for those who may have missed previous posts, they may be encouraged by what has encouraged others. For those who have already read them, may God use them to further the work that He is doing in their lives.

For the next five days, I will share the most-read 2011 posts from each of the five categories that this blog focuses on: Being Content, Growth, Hope, Purpose, Relationships. As we look forward to 2012, may your hearts be drawn ever closer to our King!

 

The most-read 2011 posts about being content were:

  • Give Thanks First  – A lesson learned in sadness about the importance of starting with gratitude.

 

  • The Who and Not the What – A reminder that when we are content with our circumstances, we are really not content with our God.

 

  • To the Cross – When we are struggling with being content, we must not only look to the hope that is coming, but to the cross and what has already been accomplished on my behalf.

~N.A. Winter

Worshipping What Should Have Been

December 14, 2011 in Being Content with 2 Comments

Sometimes when reading the Old Testament, I have to remind myself not to be too hard on the Israelites. Even though I often want to shake my head at their antics, I realize that the same sinful tendencies that drove them to trade a relationship with the Living God for senseless sacrifice to foreign idols are far too often present in my own life as well. I may not bow down to a golden calf, but just like them I am tempted to put lesser things in the place where only God should rightly occupy. I am tempted to sacrifice my relationship with Him for temporal satisfactions.

Usually, in modern day conversations of “idol worship” we hear talk of the things that the world acclaims – prestige, fame, money and comfort. These are all things that many have been lead astray by, just like the Israelites were swayed by the gods of foreign nations. However, there are less obvious, perhaps even more insidious “gods” that we worship. One of these is the idol of “what should have been.”

You might not be familiar with this idol by its name, but you are probably more familiar with the acts of worship that its followers initiate. It’s the bowing down to our hopes and dreams – placing them as central importance in our lives. It’s the fight we have with the living God when His plans do not conform to our own. It’s the railing against our circumstances instead of the thankfulness for His gifts.

It’s a tempting god because in our culture we are taught from a young age that we should “reach for the stars.” “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a question that we ask children long before they have the capacity to truly think through that answer. “Dream big dreams” we’re told, and we celebrate those who do. And those dreams may be good. But if they are contrary to what God has planned for our life, we must be willing to sacrifice them for the glory of our King. Our hopes and our dreams aren’t what are most important – He is. Yet too often, we’re willing to set aside our worship of our Savior in order to celebrate and esteem our carefully orchestrated plans.

And we may not even realize that we are doing this until those dreams don’t become a reality. Naturally, we fill short-shifted, like somehow we had done our part but God hasn’t done His. We tell Him that we’ve done all He’s asked yet what we’ve really done is what we wanted. Because if we were worshiping Him, and not what should have been, our circumstances wouldn’t change the object of our esteem. When things turn out differently than expected, we would be celebrating what He’s doing, not fighting for what we desire. We would still be worshiping Him, not complaining that our circumstances have changed.

It’s often hard to resist bowing down to the idol of what should have been. It’s a tempting idol especially in our culture, in this day.  Yet, we should rightly worship the God Who Is, and put our hopes and dreams into His loving hands.

 

How do you make sure you are worshiping the living God and fight the temptation to worship the idol of what should have been?

 

 

Predicating Factor

December 2, 2011 in Being Content with 0 Comments

Human beings don’t have a hard time thinking about themselves.  Children often learn “mine” as one of their first words, and using that word frequently, whether verbally or just mentally, usually continues throughout adulthood. It must be why Scripture is replete with the command to “humble yourselves.” After all, if we are thinking of ourselves too highly, we aren’t thinking of God highly enough.

One of the things that we don’t often consider is how much thinking highly of ourselves, pride, is a predicating factor for worry. I Peter 5:6-7 helps makes this so clear. In verse 6 is the oft-repeated command to humble ourselves. The very next verse tells us outcome of doing so – we cast all our anxieties upon Him. The opposite is true then as well. When we don’t humble ourselves, when we are prideful, we keep our cares under our own control. Essentially, we worry.

This is a hard truth to swallow. After all, in today’s culture worry is considered the right and privilege of doting parents, concerned teachers, and a thousand of other roles that we think have the “right” to feel anxious about the future. However, God’s Word says that this is wrong. None of God’s children have been given the right to worry. Instead, we have all been given the privilege of reliance on Him.

Therefore, next time we are prone to worry, we must first recognize that the likely culprit is that we are thinking too highly of ourselves. We think that we are the ones in control, when the truth is that we are far from it. Instead, we need to cast our cares on the One who has the cosmos in His hands. To do so, we must start with humility.

 

Now it’s your turn….

How have you seen pride turn to worry? How can we practically humble ourselves so that we are relying on God and not our own abilities?

The Who (and not the what)

November 29, 2011 in Being Content with 0 Comments

We spend a lot of time fighting against the way things are. We expend a lot of energy demanding what we deserve. We go to battle routinely, prepared to wage war against people and situations that stand in our way.

 

However, in the midst of our complaints and diatribes, we often forget that it is not the people and the situations that are really the focus of our contention. When we rail against the circumstances that we find ourselves in, when a complaining spirit is what epitomizes our persona, it is the One that allowed the situation that we are ultimately fighting.  When we are angry that life isn’t as we think it should be, it is bound to impact our relationship with the One who not only controls the wind and the waves, but also the details of our day.

As Stephen Neill wrote in The Christian Character:

Every virtue is a form of obedience to God. Every evil word or act is a form of rebellion against Him. This may not be clear at first; but, if we think patiently, we shall find that it is true. Why were you angry? You will probably find that it was because you were not willing to accept the world as God has made it; or because you were not willing to leave it to God to deal with the people that He has made.

In other words, our lack of contentment is ultimately not a disappointment in the way things are; it is an unwillingness to trust in the One who allowed it to be so.

 

Consequently, in order to be more content, we need to trust in Him more. We need to have confidence that God is still on His throne and nothing that happens on this Earth is outside of His purview. We need to fight a war with sin, not with the circumstances that He allows. And we need to strive to honor and obey Him regardless of the situations that we are in.

 

Share your thoughts….

How can we fight discontentment and therefore fight the temptation to sin?

Not A Single Day

November 25, 2011 in Being Content with 0 Comments

When my dad passed away, I quickly learned how many people are uncomfortable with knowing what to say as people grieve. Although there were many encouraging remarks, some of the least helpful things that people said were variations on the theme that “time heals all wounds.” My experience has been that this is untrue. The shock of the loss may fade some, but there are still days that his absence catches me off guard. And there is not a single day that I don’t think of him and miss him. Not a single day.

However, in the midst of the daily recognition that I won’t see him again this side of Heaven, there is also the recognition that the reason why time doesn’t heal this wound is because of the wonderful dad that God blessed me with. The reasons that things hurt deeply is because we care deeply and my dad was purposeful about building a family marked by love. In this,  there is the acknowledgment that although there is much to miss, there is also much for which to be thankful. The only reason I can rightly evaluate what is absent is because I’ve experienced the bountiful gift that having my dad was.

I wish that this allowed me to also say that there is not a single day that I haven’t been filled with thanksgiving for the gifts that God has graciously bestowed upon me. Because of our sinful nature we are more apt to focus on what we don’t have rather than acknowledging the blessings in what we have been given, even if we don’t have it anymore. However, it has reminded me that for the Christian there should not be a single day that is reserved for giving thanks. Instead, gratitude should characterize our lives.

It’s easy to focus on what’s missing, what we don’t have, and our disappointments. However, instead of what’s lacking being the focus of our attention, we would do well to daily acknowledge the blessings that are ours, which we don’t deserve, and we’ve done nothing to earn. In doing so, may there not be a single day that isn’t filled with thanks.

 

Now it’s your turn….

How do you make sure to daily express gratitude for the blessings you’ve been given?

Give Thanks First

November 2, 2011 in Being Content, Growth with 7 Comments

As children grow we try to teach them to use what I’ve dubbed their “polite words.” “Please” and “thank you” are necessary for social interactions and part of a child’s training is to learn when and how to use them. The challenge is that children are often only given these instructions when they want something, and then when they get something they want. We rarely teach children that when their desires aren’t fulfilled, they still need to give thanks.

This same habit we take into adulthood. We say “please” when we are making a request, and only say “thank you” when the request is fulfilled. Our gratitude is reactionary. It comes after we get what we want, and is presumably unnecessary if we don’t.

Yet God has already given us so much that even when He doesn’t grant our particular request, we have reason to give thanks.  Like our worship of Him, our gratitude isn’t contingent on our circumstances, but on Who He is and He is always good, always loving, and always working things out according to His purposes. Even when we don’t get our heart’s desire, we have reason to thank Him – for the gifts and the grace He has already bestowed.

It was a lesson I saw in action very recently. As I previously mentioned, a dear friend was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. The night of her diagnosis, as we waited in the hospital room, she suggested we pray. As she prayed, the first thing that she did was give thanks. Not merely a “thank you God for being God” but listing specific and particular things for which she was grateful. Her first response to God wasn’t one of anger or confusion, but of thanks. Her gratitude wasn’t based on the fact that she was laying in a hospital bed with an unknown future, but based on the fact that regardless of where she was, God was still on His throne. He was still faithful and still true, and she had much for which she could thank Him.

And so do we.

 

What are you thankful to God for?

Worship Where You Are

November 1, 2011 in Being Content with 2 Comments

We have dear family friends that were missionaries for 10 years. Upon returning to the States, I remember the matriarch of the family sharing with me a lesson that she taught her kids. They spent those 10 years in several different countries and often they would move to a new place before they learned the language. Despite not understanding the content of a church service, they still faithfully attended. The perspective was that “God tells us to go to church so that’s what we are going to do.” It didn’t matter whether you could understand the pastor or sing along with the songs, you could still worship.

It’s a lesson that has stayed with me. Although I have rarely been to a church service where I didn’t understand the words, the overarching message has changed the way that I view church, and worship. Church isn’t about me; church is about God. Worshiping Him is not dependent upon my circumstances, but Who He is. Therefore, regardless of whether I like the sermon or not, whether the set list was filled with my favorite songs or those that I do not favor, or whether I’m driving in a car, talking to my friends, or a thousand other things that I do, worship exists; I just need to join in with what Creation is already doing and worship my Savior.

God doesn’t change depending on our circumstances, and neither should our praise and adoration of Him. So wherever we are, we can worship.

 

Have you experienced the joy of worshiping God wherever He places you? What have you learned from that?

 

Postscript – The dear friend who taught me this lesson is having an operation today to remove a large tumor that was discovered last week. Please join me in praying for a successful surgery and a complete recovery. Our God is a big God who saves and who heals.


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