1. I plan and pray for today.
Sometimes I dream about the future. Not intentionally...I just do.
I think about the things God has revealed to me concerning my purpose and I begin to imagine different scenarios. I pray about those hypothetical moments and dwell on them until they consume a huge portion of my thought life.
There isn’t anything inherently wrong with praying about the future or even dreaming, by any means. In fact, the problem isn’t what I’m doing- it’s what I’m not doing.
Far too often, I am so consumed with what might be, that I ignore what already is.
I’m praying about a vision I have, but I totally neglect to surrender my will to Christ and submit my day to Him. I haven’t thanked Him, lately, for the job I already have or for my good health.
A true sign of contentment is when I have the self-control to focus on what the Lord is doing in my life, right now!
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:33-34)
2. I can rest.
Children are starving. There isn’t any clean water to drink. Christians are being killed. Abortion is normal. And apparently everything under the sun causes cancer. Also the sun. The sun causes cancer.
And with all these problems- Who has time for rest, am I right?
Well...God did.
God was busy creating the world when He decided to chill out for a minute. The entire world! How much more do we need rest as we exhaust our limited strength maintaining our own little worlds?
The ability to rest is a sure sign of contentment and trust in the Lord. It reveals that we are satisfied with what God already did, yet we will still continue to press on and be used as vessels for what He continues to do.
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Genesis 2:2-3)
3. I can commit to something.
I've learned that I am not as content as I'd like to think I am. Instead, I've used being "content in the Lord" as an excuse to not commit to much of anything.
While it's true that as everything around me changes, Christ is the one thing that remains the same- it doesn't mean everything should always be changing.
Real contentment is the ability to be responsible and maintain, non-religious, healthy routines that benefit my relationship with the Lord and fulfill His will for my life.
Contentment fuels the ability to do all things- and the only thing more rewarding than being able to do anything is being able to do exactly what God tells me to do.
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 to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13)
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