THE PRACTICE AND ART OF CONTENTMENT

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 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 this through Him who gives me strength.”  (Philippians 4:11b–13 NIV)

Contentment isn’t passive satisfaction. It is the grateful, faithful, and fruitful use of whatever God has placed in our hands -- little or much. It is lifting the cup Providence gives us and calling on the name of the Lord. The contents of the cup are God’s provision; drawing deeply from it is the practice and art of contentment.

To refuse the cup because it is only half full, because its flavor is unfamiliar, or because someone else’s cup seems finer is to miss the goodness within -- and that loss is the quiet penalty of discontent. No one lives discontented who fully employs and fully enjoys what God has already given.

It may sound lofty to say we can have what we desire if we learn to desire what we have -- but this much is true: contentment is receiving the most and best from life by making the most and best of what God has entrusted to us in Christ. 

-- Updated and adapted from Maltbie D. Babcock (1858-1901) 

#6452 

HONORING ONE ANOTHER

“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.”  (Romans 12:9-10 NLT)

We can honor others in one of two ways. One involves ulterior motives. We honor our bosses so they will reward us, our employees so they will work harder, the wealthy so they will contribute to our causes, the powerful so they will use their power for us and not against us. God’s way involves love. As Christians, we honor people because they have been created in God’s image, because they are brothers and sisters in Christ, and because they have a unique contribution to make to Christ’s church. Does God’s way of honoring others sound too difficult for your competitive nature? Why not try to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10 ESV)? Put others first! 

-- From the “Life Application Study Bible”

#6440

THE PATTERN OF THE CROSS – Part 2 of 2

“So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ.”  (2 Corinthians 5:16-18 NLT)

This upside-down pattern of the cross so contradicts the thinking and practice of the world that it creates an “alternate kingdom,” an alternate reality, a counterculture among those who have been transformed by it. In this peaceable kingdom there is a reversal of the values of the world with regard to power, recognition, status, and wealth. In this new counterculture, Christians look at money as something to give away. They look at power as something to use strictly for service. Racial and class superiority, accrual of money and power at the expense of others, yearning for popularity and recognition, these normal marks of human life, are the opposite of the mindset of those who have understood and experienced the Cross. Christ creates a whole new order of life. Those who are shaped by the great reversal of the Cross no longer need self-justification through money, status, career, or pride of race and class. So the Cross creates a counterculture in which sex, money, and power cease to control us and are used in life-giving and community-building rather than destructive ways. 

-- Timothy Keller (1950-2023) in “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism”  

#6422

ARE YOU OKAY WITH THIS?

The Prophet Jeremiah wrote of good King Josiah, “‘He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know Me?’ declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 22:16)

United Nations health and food organizations calculate that twenty-five thousand people throughout the developing world die every day from starvation and malnutrition.  Are you okay with this?  There are a hundred thirty thousand children up for adoption at any given time in the United States, and millions more children worldwide are without families.  Are you okay with this?  A child dies from drinking contaminated water every twenty-one seconds.  Are you okay with this?  That question can be and must be asked of all suffering and every injustice.  Are you okay with this?

Most of us are okay with it.  And we’re okay with it simply because it’s an issue without a name or a face.  We’ve never held someone who is starving to death.  No one in our family has needlessly died from contaminated water.  We don’t know anybody who has been kidnapped and sold into slavery.  And none of our family members sleeps on the streets.  But once the issue has a name and a face, it changes everything, doesn’t it?  God knows each of those names.  God knows each of those faces.  And it breaks His heart.

So let me ask the question again: Are you okay with this?

If you are in Christ and Christ is in you, you cannot be okay with suffering or injustice or starvation.  Why?  Because His heart is in you.  And His heart beats for the suffering, the victim, the poor, and the needy.  If you are a Christ follower, then you have been drafted into an army of compassion that knows no enemy but those things that break the heart of God.  And it’s not okay to not do something about that.  

-- Mark Batterson in “PRIMAL: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity” (2009)

#6307

WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation -- but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.”  (Romans 8:12 NIV)

Obligation. It’s not your favorite word, is it? But that’s because we interpret it, or rather misinterpret it, in a negative light. Don’t think of it as something we have to do; think of it as something we get to do. Our greatest obligation doubles as our greatest opportunity -- surrendering our lives to the lordship of Christ. Can you think of any greater privilege than being used for God’s eternal purposes?

The word means to be legally or morally bound, and the best picture might be marriage. When you say “I do” at the altar, you are obligating yourself for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part. I’ve officiated lots of weddings, and I’ve never seen anyone enter into that obligation with anything other than joyful anticipation.

When we enter into a covenant relationship with God, we tend to focus on the fact that we are legally and morally bound to God, but God is also legally and morally bound to us. The gospel demands that we give all of ourselves to God, but when we do, God gives all of Himself to us. I’ll take that trade seven days a week, and twice on Sundays! It’s a covenant of blessing, and every blessing belongs to you in Christ. Every promise is yes in Christ. 

-- Mark Batterson in “If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God’s What If Possibilities”

#6293

TRANSFORMED IN CHRIST

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  (Galatians 2:20)

This is essentially Jesus' work during His earthly ministry.  He makes people whole.

He takes a brash, boisterous braggart named Peter who is spiritually as shifty as sand, and fashions him into a solid rock, so that thousands will hear the gospel through him.

He takes a John of boiling temperament and fiery disposition and channels that fire into love and gives gentleness in place of harshness.

He takes a sinful woman twisted in all her thoughts, torn apart in her conscience, tormented by seven demons, and releases Mary of Magdala from her captivity, even gives her the honor of being the first to see Him risen from the dead.

He takes a greedy, selfish, despicable tax collector and transforms Zacchaeus into a person of Christian charity and benevolence who in turn makes a deep committal:  "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." (Luke 19:8)

He transforms men and women by the power of His love.  A group of very ordinary people are forgiven for their sins, changed in their goals, given a vision, empowered with His Holy Spirit, and these Christians turn the world upside down, or shall we say, right-side up? 

-- H.S. Vigeveno in “Jesus the Revolutionary”

#6291

RECONCILIATION IS OUR MINISTRY

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17–21 NKJV)

In Christ, God has done something for the world. God has reconciled people to Himself. In other words, God has made a way for a broken relationship to be made whole, through the death of Jesus on the cross (Colossians 1:20). In this great act of reconciliation, God has made a way for anyone -- literally, anyone -- to come into union with Him.

Coming into union with God in Christ is reconciliation in its most essential form. Any reconciliation we may do on earth that does not find its source and strength in God’s greater, reconciling work of the heart to Himself is destined to struggle and fall short.

God knows that if He can get a heart relating to Him again, experiencing His presence, love, forgiveness, acceptance, and truth, the possibilities of reconciliation between that person and others are endless. We who have been reconciled to God begin to want others to be reconciled to God. We want others to experience the freedom that we have experienced. It is the natural flow of the story.

And that is why sharing the good news of reconciliation is our ministry. Just as one who is forgiven much loves much (Luke 7:47), so, too, we who have experienced God closing the gap between us and Him want to help close that gap for others. 

-- Dan Wilt in “Wake-Up Call”

#6190

EMBEDDING PRAYER INTO OUR DAILY LIVES – Part 1 of 3

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV)

We can look for cues that embed prayer into our daily lives. In the Bible we are commanded to practice hospitality. In ancient times this usually involved hosting overnight visitors; now it might start with welcoming a telephone call that feels like an interruption. Out of habit I may find myself answering with a grudging spirit. What do you want? Make it fast. You’re bothering me.

But there is another way. Wil Derske, a Benedictine monk, writes about the monastic value of hospitality and says that to accept a phone call is an opportunity to receive a guest. We can pause a moment before answering, in order to change our inner attitude from irritation to welcome. Derske says he will say a prayer of blessing just before taking the call: Benedicamus Domino -- it might be the Lord! 

-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want to Be”

#6110

CLAIM YOUR INHERITANCE IN CHRIST

“But to all who received [Jesus], who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”  (John 1:12-13 NRSV)

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ -- if, in fact, we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”  (Romans 8:14-17 NRSV)

The good news we share with one another is the gospel’s declaration that no matter where we are in life, we are the recipients of God’s limitless grace. We can have peace, joy, assurance, comfort, hope, tranquility, confidence, and companionship with God in Christ and beyond that, life eternal. With a life bank full of such gifts we are indeed rich. And yet, so often I permit myself to slip into poverty thinking and poverty living. I feel anxious, alone, fearful, faithless, without joy, and sometimes without hope. I feel this way because I have forgotten and lost grip on the inheritance that God gives me in Christ anew every morning.

Many of us live in spiritual poverty because we have forgotten who we are as God’s children and who God is as our loving Father. The fact that you are reading these words suggests that you are reaching out even now to claim your full inheritance as a child of God. May God grant grace and wisdom to do so more and more today and every day of your life. Claim your inheritance in Christ and live as God’s beloved child today. 

-- Adapted from Rueben P. Job in “A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God”

#6090

A NEW IDENTITY IN CHRIST

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”  (2 Corinthians 5:17 NRSV)

Jesus invited Peter and his brother, Andrew, to forsake their business in order to string along with Him, and “immediately they left their nets and followed Him“ (Matthew 4:18-20). Soon Jesus called two other brothers to follow Him. “Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him” (Matthew 4:22). The Gospel writers reveal a sense of immediacy accompanying Jesus’ call. They recognize a sense of timing. Jesus’ call in our lives is both immediate and timely.

Not only does Jesus call us to join ranks with Him; He also names us. In recruiting Peter, Jesus said to him, “You are Simon… you are to be called… Peter” (John 1:42). Gospel vignettes remind us that we must name Jesus for ourselves. Nathaniel named Jesus “the Son of God… the King of Israel” (John 1:49). In the early chapter of the Gospels, so many people are naming and being named. We too might allow Jesus to name us, to tell us who we really are. Naming someone defines the person, allows the person to take on an entirely new identity. When Jesus lays claim upon our lives, we are given a new name…

When John’s disciples broke ranks to follow after Jesus, He asked them, “Who are you looking for?” They responded, “Where do you live?” Jesus asked who, they responded where. Their spirituality was uninformed. They looked for grace in “things and places.” Jesus offered them grace in a living, loving relationship. Jesus still asks the “who” questions – not merely “what.” “What are you doing?” is a doing question with a doing reply: I am a teacher, a machinist, a physician, and so forth. But “who” you are invites a being response. “Who” inquires into the soul of us. Who are you? What name has Jesus given you? What name have you given Jesus? 

-- Norman Shawchuck in “A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God”

#6088

ABIDING IN JESUS

Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”  (John 15:4 ESV)

Jesus isn’t asking you to do something you’re not already doing. All of us are abiding. The question isn’t, “Are you abiding?” It’s, “What are you abiding in?” All of us have a source we are rooted in, a kind of default setting we return to. An emotional home. It’s where our minds go when they’re not busy with tasks, where our feelings go when we need solace, where our bodies go when we have free time, and where our money goes after we pay bills. We will make our home somewhere, the question is “Where?” 

-- John Mark Comer in “Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become like Him. Do as He did.”

#6044

COMMUNITY IN CHRIST

“Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.”  (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 NLT)

The Spirit is inviting, inviting us to overcome our shyness and to discover anew what community in Christ is really meant to be.

The Spirit is inviting us to set aside our idealized images of community, because true community in Christ involves us in all the realities of human relationships.  The Spirit is inviting us to attend once again on faithful practices and on being stretched and on our steady, prayerful need for grace in the life we share together.  In essence, the Spirit now bids us to enter a form of being and acting that has no limits.

It is calling us to grow in our life with the community that is both fashioned and led forth by the Living Christ.

-- Stephen V. Doughty in “Discovering Community”

#6023

RECONCILIATION: THE MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS – Part 1 of 2

“Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross…”  (Ephesians 2:13-16 NIV)

God has broken into this world in an astounding story of divinity and humanity that boggles the brain even as it transforms the heart…

In the words of the late Samuel Hines, “God has a one-term agenda, listed in one expressive and inclusive word: reconciliation.”  It is a bold statement. It suggests that God’s intention, purpose, and desire for the world can be captured in this one word.

Reconciliation implies that a relationship has suffered damage. It indicates division exists where there was once harmony. Such division marks all humanity. Through sin and disobedience, we have separated ourselves from God and from one another…

In Christ, through Christ, and with Christ that “dividing wall of hostility” has been torn down. According to Charles Wesley, reconciliation is… the message of Christmas:

          Hark the herald angels sing,
          “Glory to the newborn King;
          peace on earth, and mercy mild,
          God and sinners reconciled!”

 -- Kevin Baker in “Hail the Heaven Born” 

6007

TO DIE IN THE LORD

“And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.’”  (Revelation 14:13 NRSV)

Several older women were having lunch together in a café.  They were discussing how they wanted to die.  One lady said, "I want to die in Arizona.  I've always loved the climate, and when I go I hope it's there."  Another lady quickly responded, "Not me!  I want to die right here at home.  I want my family close by."  A third lady said, "I'd like to die in the spring.  Just one last look at the flowers, you know."  The fourth lady said, "Me?  I should like to die in Hawaii having a fling and spending my last nickel."  Finally, the last lady took her turn.  "When I die," she said, "I want to pass away in the Lord. In Florida, in Arizona, in the spring of the year, all is of little consequence.  But to die in the Lord, that is Paradise!" 

How about you?  Which way do you want to die?  Rich or poor, here or there, suffering or in your sleep – all that is ultimately of little consequence.  But to die in the Lord, that is happiness. 

-- Rev. Keith Schroerlucke in a sermon entitled "When Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow"

#5968

ENDLESS SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ..." (Ephesians 1:3 NKJV)

[Do you remember] those "too good to be true" sweepstakes envelopes in the mail with Ed McMahon's face on it?   What did you do with the envelope?  If you're like me, you threw it in the trash even though it says you may have already won $10 million.  I've figured out the scam -- I've read the fine print and learned my chances of winning are slim to none.

Ephesians reminds us that God has given us (past tense in the Greek) every spiritual blessing, and there is no catch.  The tragedy is that some of us merely underline, quote, or frame the promises in the Bible, treating the treasures of God the same way we would treat a sweepstakes letter.  Are you throwing away God's blessings?  Today learn how to make withdrawals from your benefactor's heavenly bank account.  It's all there waiting for you!  

-- Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose in “Pathway to God's Treasure: Ephesians”

#5932

RESPONDING TO GOD’S GIFT

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent Me. I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”  (John 17:25-26 NIV)

"Responding to God" is a concept that many, if not most, find difficult to grasp.  Human nature and institutions have presented almost insurmountable obstacles to this process.  The free will that God has given mankind permits a focus on immediate and physical needs, often at the expense of long-term and spiritual needs.  Many do not even consider the possibility of an ultimate or eternal need. 

Every single human being causes harm or disappointment to others at various times.  The injury is often in the failure to take an appropriate action.  Mankind has always been plagued with thoughtless and destructive behaviors.  Governments, social organizations, and religions have evolved focusing on these behaviors and attempting to ameliorate them.  Rules, laws, moral codes, and commandments have proliferated with elaborate systems of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and punishments.  Who could satisfy every demand?  The criminal and immoral usually don't care.  Those who try to do good still face the guilt associated with failing to meet every expectation.  The good and the bad, to various degrees, are all subject to guilt and the anxieties associated with it.  Mankind was given free will and a deep-seated need for God, but not perfection.  We, in fact, seem to be prisoners of our imperfection.

Christians believe that God provided the solution to this condition over 2,000 years ago.  To demonstrate His love for humanity, He sent His Son, in essence Himself, into the world.  Jesus came to destroy the barriers separating men and women from God.  He brought a simple message of forgiveness and reconciliation.  Through Jesus, every human being was given a clear and direct way to God.  He prayed, "Righteous Father, I have made You known to them… in order that the love You have for Me may be in them." The appropriate "response" to God is simply to accept this gift.

-- Larkin Spivey in “God in the Trenches” 

#5914

GOD’S GRACIOUS ADOPTION

“Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ… and it gave Him great pleasure.”  (Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT)

There is something in you that God loves. Not just appreciates but loves. You cause His eyes to widen, His heart to beat faster. He loves you. And He accepts you [in Christ]…

To live as God’s child is to know, at this very instant, that you are loved by your Maker not because you try to please Him and succeed, or fail to please Him and apologize, but because He wants to be your Father. Nothing more. All your efforts to win His affection are unnecessary. (John 1:12) All your fears of losing His affection are needless. (Isaiah 43:1) You can no more make Him want you than you can convince Him to abandon you. The adoption is irreversible. You have a place at His table. 

-- Max Lucado in “Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine”

#5899

SAVED FROM A SINKING BOAT

Quite dramatically it dawns upon you: There is a God. There's more to life than what I have been seeing. There is a God. And God makes a claim on my life.

Perhaps at the very same moment, you get a whole different view of yourself. Scales fall off. It is horrible. "I've been living for me. I've been curved in on myself all these years… All the love lost! And the betrayals -- by neglect as much as anything! The blindness! Woe is me. I'm a mess that can't be fixed. I've got to close all these thoughts up and get out of here." The boat is sinking.

But then, if you are blessed, just as soon as the horror of self-knowledge is embraced, there comes another feeling of presence. A gentle voice which speaks from the depths of the soul, even from the depths of the universe. "It's all right. Do not be afraid. I know who you are. Forgiveness is Mine to grant. I'm not here to destroy your life. I'm here to remake it." It feels like death at first, but then there is new life. "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!”  (2 Corinthians 5:17 NRSV)

The sudden apprehension of God's reality creates a sudden knowledge of self. And you perceive a horrible gap between yourself and God. But immediately into the breach God pours love and forgiveness in Christ. There is an intuition that God knows full well who you are, loves you anyway, and empowers you to change. Beneath the crisis of the meaning of life, whatever form it takes, God gives a sense that all is well and you are kept in love. God lifts you out of the sinking boat. 

– Adapted from Gerrit Scott Dawson in “Heartfelt”

#5873

THE SOVEREIGN LORD OF LIFE

“He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears… In that day the people will proclaim, ‘This is our God! We trusted in Him, and He saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation He brings!’”  (Isaiah 25:8-9 NLT)

The reality of death is with us. We face it as and who we are. It is at this juncture that those who are Christians, those who are in Christ, reveal their faith which is their character.

“Death,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his Letters and Papers from Prison, “is the supreme festival on the road to freedom.” Such confidence in death as access to the fuller presence of God can only come from a conviction that our lives are hidden with Christ in God -- with Christ who is the incarnation of persisting, caring grace -- and in God who is the sovereign Lord of life before and beyond death.

-- Thomas A. Langford in “Christian Wholeness” 

#5766

THE VISIBLE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see -- such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him. He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together.”  (Colossians 1:15-17 NLT)

This is one of the strongest statements about the divine nature of Christ found anywhere in the Bible. Jesus is not only equal to God, He is God; as the visible image of the invisible God, He is the exact representation of God. He not only reflects God, but He reveals God to us; as supreme over all creation, He has all the priority and authority. He came from heaven, not from the dust of the earth, and He is Lord of all. He is completely holy, and He has authority to judge the world. Therefore, Christ is supreme over all creation, including the spirit (unseen) world.

We, like the Colossian believers, must believe in the deity of Jesus Christ (that He is God) or our Christian faith is hollow, misdirected, and meaningless. This is a central truth of Christianity. We must oppose [the idea] that Jesus was merely a prophet or a good teacher.  

-- From the “Life Application Study Bible”

#5691