Someone this past week, was talking about opportunities in life, and said how we shouldn't always be looking for another new thing or a better thing because we need to just be content and happy with what we've been given. It had a dissonant tone to it when I heard this...and I couldn't really figure out why, but I think now I know.
Paul says that he is content in all circumstances. Content? He was satisfied with what he had, and did not want anything else? Yes. It's true, he was content. Through prison, torture, allegations, investigations, hunger, exhaustion, persecution and ridicule. He knew that his satisfaction would never be met on earth, so he was utterly and completely content. And in this sense, I think we should all be this content. We should be content wherever we have been placed, in whatever race we are running, in whatever job, housing situation, social status, whatever. We should be content and know that our being, our self worth and justification will not come from the next best thing, but in the God who directs our paths and that wherever we are He will use to His glory if we allow him in.
However......Paul also says that he continues to press on toward the goal. Well what does that mean? If he is totally content, why is he "looking for more"? As I said above, I think we should all be content in the circumstances that we find ourselves, yet throughout the Bible there is an example of never finding ourselves "stale," but always learning, growing, trying, failing and trying again. In our situation there should be a peaceful contentment, but in our spirit, in our soul, should there ever be a contentment? Shouldn't we always be searching out what God is speaking to us? Where He is directing us? What opportunities might be shadowed around the corner, just waiting to be revealed by our search?
If I had been completely content, I would have never tried finding another job, I would have never been employed where I am today, would never have met the friends I now have, and would have been "perfectly content." Yet I would have been missing something (though whether I would know that or not I'll never really know)....but there's a whole side of my life that I never would have found. I would have never gone to Mexico and found blessing through small conversations. I never would have had the opportunities to talk about Romania's orphans to pastors all over the world. None of this would have happened if I had been ....content.
I AM content....every day....some days....but I'm never content to stay the same person that I was the day before. It's Christ's life that challenges me to grow, to run toward the prize, to be drawn closer and closer every day toward the Father who has blessed my life. In this sense, I will never be content. I hope I never am content. I hope you can be content in your circumstance,....but never content in your soul. Thoughts?
I get what you're saying & I like it. However, we have to remember that sometimes God calls us somewhere & it's not what we hoped or planned... not for our comfort. He brings us these places to teach us something usually. I think sometimes we have to choose contentness because God calls us there & we don't feel content. We may be called there for a season and it doesn't make sense to us so we have to lean into God. I just mean that there are times we have to lean into God and wait... do you know what i mean? Those are the times contentedness are required and we can't look for the next best thing because God's ways are mysterious and that's is the best thing for us though we don't understand it.
ReplyDeleteI totally hear that Becky & agree fully. And I think with that, with being content in those situations, you're always searching for why God has you there even though you are content to wait. And you may never understand. Thanks for your thoughts!
ReplyDeletei agree completely with you. i'm not sure what the person you were referring to truly meant. maybe he/she was speaking more about the people that don't let themselves be content and are therefore always looking for the next best thing. They don't ever make themselves content with what they have.
ReplyDeleteI would say we should never let our souls get ... See Morecomfortable, too. We shouldn't be too comfortable here on earth. We should be stretching ourselves and trying new things as the Spirit leads.
I don't know if you would have ever had Ghlee Hanson at NWC. She was a professor for Criminal Justice stuff. One thing she said, and it really struck me, "Comfortable?! When did God ever say we get to be comfortable?" She also said: "What if all the churches tithed 10% of their congregation to the inner city?" She challenged me.
A long-distance runner will reach his optimum pace and "settle in" for the long haul. Yet he is still running toward a goal. We as Believers need to "settle in" to the pace of a deep contentment, knowing that our security and everything else is kept by the Lord for us, until we reach the final destination having passed through all the "temporary" destinations of His will for us in this life.
ReplyDeleteLast night I was reading Luke and this verse stuck out to me. "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." 11:9-10. Today I read your blog...fun conincidence :)
ReplyDeleteWe do need to be content where God has us but we also need to continually be seeking to grow and become more Christ like. Content does not mean the same thing as complacient. God desires for His children to continually seek Him, and sometimes boldly ask for doors to be opened in order that we may serve Him more fully.