Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Bible Verse of the Day: Philippians 4:4 " Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice."
At the end of the day, I believe what we are all striving
for is contentment. Contentment can come in many different forms but at its
core it is a deep and unrelenting satisfaction with the way you are living your
life. It can be shaken, but not stolen. Money cannot buy contentment. A bigger house, a new luxury car or a trip to Paris will eventually lose its luster. I know many people who are extremely
wealthy and completely devoid of any contentment. On the other hand, I know
people who are poor in the eyes of the world, but who have a deep and abiding
contentment. I am pretty sure Mother Teresa of Calcutta had an overflowing contentment
inside of her, even though she lived her life in conditions that most of us
would find appalling. She was the epitome of what the world considers poor, yet
she had a richness and contentment to her that most people would pay anything
to achieve. Contentment is one of those elusive traits that when people have it,
you can’t miss it. When someone is content you can see it in their eyes and almost
feel it in their souls. They are living above the fray and their contentment is
not circumstantial in the least. You could put anything into their lives or
take anything out, and they would likely be exactly the same person, allowing
of course for the natural aspects of human emotions to come into consideration.
In other words, greater joy and greater suffering are still a part of dealing
with events that happen to us during this lifetime on earth. However, their
contentment will allow them to always keep a perspective about the things that
happen to them. They control their reactions to the things that happen to them,
rather being held hostage or controlled by them.
Where does contentment come from? How do we get it? That is
the question that most people would love to know the formula to. It seems that
people that live their lives as “givers” rather than “takers” have a good start
to finding real contentment. The Bible says it is better to give than to
receive and I think the notion of unselfishness is a very important aspect of
contentment. Certainly when we are focused on helping others who are less
fortunate than ourselves, in whatever endeavor we may find ourselves engaged
with, we are aligning with the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ
himself, who said he didn’t come to be served, but rather to serve. The Apostle
Paul was pretty much the poster child for contentment, able to find a lasting
peace even in the midst of his often dire circumstances. In the letter he wrote
to the Philippians, he mentions in chapter 4 that “I have learned to be content
in whatever the circumstances.” Where did he get that deep contentment from? He
goes on to say “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have
plenty. I have learned the secret of
being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry. Whether
living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me
strength.” Who is the one that Paul is referring to that gives him
strength? It is the Lord, Jesus Christ. Paul’s ability to stay focused on the
promises of his eternal destiny, Heaven, allowed him to deal with anything that
this world had to throw at him with a deep sense of contentment. Not many
people have suffered as many apparent hardships as Paul did. He mentions some
of them in 2nd Corinthians 11 “Five times I received from the Jews
the forty lashes, minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once pelted
with stones, three times Shipwrecked.” The list goes on and on. Paul’s life
seems like a never ending horror show that could best be named “What could
possibly happen next?” Yet he was able to find a deep and unimaginable
contentment.
Can we learn from Paul’s trials to help us find contentment
in our own lives? I believe we most certainly can. Paul was not focused
entirely on the here and now, but on the then and there called Heaven. He knew
his destiny, he stayed incredibly focused on his calling and he let no one or
no thing steal his inner joy. I imagine he had moments of serious depression
and doubt, just like we all do. I imagine he was beyond lonely and tired in his
daily struggles, just as we get. He was in physical pain and hungry often. That
cannot feel good. He was in constant danger from a multitude of foes who wanted
him out of the picture, which probably made it hard for him to ever rest or
relax. Sometimes we are dealing with stressful things in our lives that rob us
of our sleep and lead to a heavy fatigue. But here’s the thing that Paul did
that is also available to all of us; He refused to focus for very long on his
problems and instead focused on the solution of the salvation promised to him
in Christ Jesus. When you serve a mighty God, your problems seem quite small.
When you have no God, or nothing to bring lasting faith, hope and joy into your
life, your problems will always be enormous and contentment will be elusive.
I am convinced that lasting happiness or contentment is
impossible apart from God. When God is removed from your life, or from a
society, the weightlessness and chaos that ensues is impossible for us to
strive in. Look at the history of the Jewish people. When they were living
faithfully to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their land and their
existence flourished and prospered. When they turned away from their God, in
their own pride thinking that they new a better path, the pain they endured was
astronomical. If everything that happens to us in our life is leading to the
same dead end, than we are to be pitied more than any creatures that have ever
lived on this earth. But I don’t believe that is the case for one second. God’s
word tells us that is not the case and my own experiences have reinforced to me
that there is indeed a point to all of the experiences we endure on this side
of eternity. That is for each of us to learn in our own unique way and on our
own unique path. By focusing on the Master and the Creator of our existence,
contentment is possible and here’s why: Because God is love. He loves us. We
are His children. He loved us before the earth was ever formed and He will
continue to love us for all of eternity. It is this simple fact that can lead
us to a place of deep and abiding contentment. Bad things happen to good people
in this world. I don’t fully understand why. I know that we live in a fallen,
sinful world that was corrupted in the Garden of Eden. You don’t believe that,
just watch the nightly news any day of the week and ask yourself after almost
any story, how could a person do that to another person? I also know that God
had a redemption plan that is the greatest love story of all time to save His
people from the death that our sin deserved in His righteous eyes. That plan
was to send His one and only Son, Jesus, to die on a cross for redemption of
our sin debt, which we alone could never pay, so we could be reconciled back to
Him for all of eternity. Talk about a great romance novel! The whole Bible is
God’s love story for humanity playing out right before our very eyes to save us
from our sinfulness and shame. Because He loved us so much that He would stop
at nothing to save us and redeem us with an everlasting hope and joy, then yes,
contentment is possible on this earth. You just have to know where to look.
Keep looking up!
