Being content

Driving home from the store the other day my seventeen year old daughter asked “What inspires you”. For a moment I was stumped with her question but knowing she was really interested, I looked deeper into my memory for a good answer. After what seemed like a very long pause, I successfully stumbled upon a couple of appropriate answers while wading through a quagmire of jumbled ideas. “Music. Music inspires me,” I said while keeping my eyes on the road but I kept on searching for a better answer.  Then more ideas came in like a flood. “Good artwork, food and fellowship, these things inspire me,” I said with a smile confident that I was truly making father points, but then…

It dawned on me, something that the apostle Paul said “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:11-12.

That was it, the answer to her question that I was desperately searching for. “Contentment”.  Even the full definition of “inspire” supports my theory “transitive verb: to influence, move, or guide by divine or supernatural inspiration”. To know that God is protecting me, providing for me on a daily basis and that I can rest in that promise.

If we take our eyes off Jesus, off God the Father and shut the Holy Spirit out of our lives, then we lose sight of where our strength and power comes from. Soon the trials and tribulations of this life become too numerous and heavy for us to carry on our own and we begin to doubt God is there to help. Peter, after seeing Jesus walking on the water, petitioned the Lord that he may come to Him. The disciple took a step in faith as he stepped out of the boat, walking to Jesus on the surface of the water. As soon as the reality hit that the wind and the waves might overtake him, he took his eyes off Jesus, began to doubt and sank into the sea.

It is important to keep things in a clear perspective or before too long fear will devour and steal our joy. Take money as an example, how many zeros behind the number seven do you need to be satisfied?  Look at this string of figures:  $7.00, $70.00, $700.00, $7,000.00, $70,000.00. I know we all think that we would be more satisfied with $70,000.00, but really being content means that whatever amount we have we are thankful for it. The truth is that we will always want just one more zero behind the number seven. 

 

I love what Jesus said about trials and tribulation “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you will have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Oh what beautiful words those are to meditate on in times of trouble. Our hope is built securely on the foundation of Christ and our future eternity with God. Our lives here are but a vapor or a vanishing mist short lived while we pass through like pilgrims on a great journey.

God has promised us an inheritance and sealed us with the Holy Spirit as pledge of that future state. Unfortunately, our window to that future has become clouded with lustful wants and desires. Greed continues to push and drive us to work longer hours and harder for things that we won’t be taking with us when we go to meet our maker. You don’t see many coffins towing trailers full of toys.

Being content each day with what the Lord gives us is what inspires me to do the things that put a smile on the face of my Creator. Our enemy tries to sell us things by making promises that have no guarantee but that look shiny on the outside, appealing to our human lust. The grass might look greener in your neighbor’s yard but it will turn just as brown in the drought that looms over all of us. Being content is a real act of faith. It shows others that we trust our God with our lives and, even if we don’t get a beautiful rose garden, we have a home waiting for us that was not made by hands.