Archive for the 'Following Jesus' Category

In my journey of downsizing and “letting go” of my stuff…I have often thought about what it would feel like if I truly had nothing. What if I was so poor and in need, that I didn’t have even ONE thing that I could get rid of? I’ve never been in that situation, so my mind can’t even fathom it, but so many people live with SO LITTLE, with no end in sight.

During this holiday season especially, I am reminded over and over of how much I do have. We are wealthy beyond measure. If I need something, I can go and buy it. If we need socks, shoes, food, bedding, or eyeglasses, we just go buy it. With that said, the following statistics are shocking…

• Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day. ¹
• “The combined wealth of the world’s 200 richest people hit $1 trillion in 1999; the combined incomes of the 582 million people living in the 43 least developed countries is $146 billion.” ¹
• Source: Poverty Facts and Stats
  

What would Jesus say to this? You don’t have to look far to find out. Jesus talks about the poorA LOT. He talks about giving your belongings to them… feeding them…caring for them. Basically, treat them as you would want to be treated…and most of all: SHARE your stuff! The second statistic above is just mind boggling to me. When Jesus looks down on us, he sees enough food, enough money, and enough shelter to keep everyone in the world from wanting. But not many will share.

“John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” Luke 3:11

If we take this scripture to heart/literally…how can we biblically own more than we need? This has been on my mind a lot as I go through my possessions. I ask myself…”Who could use this RIGHT NOW?”. Sure, I “might” need it “someday”…but I can give it to someone that needs it today. But what about those homeless/needy people who appear to have the means to get out of “their situation”? Doesn’t giving to them just enable them to remain homeless? I truly think that if we are giving abundantly to others, Jesus will take care of the rest. Of course, exercise due caution, and don’t give cash directly. There are so many other ways to help.

What was so different about the early Christian church? Why could they live this way and today we find it beyond impossible?

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. Acts 4:32

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. Acts 2:44-46

Why does one neighborhood need a lawn mower in every garage? Why does each individual family spend money on things they will only use a few times a year? Why not have a common area where things can be “checked out” from? Part of the reason is that we have isolated ourselves and no one knows their neighbors anymore. We are an automated and isolated nation. I am fascinated by communal living and intentional communities with this type of possession “system”…but that’s a different blog post altogether!

I’m quite disturbed about the homeless situation in our country. Let me start by saying that I don’t know anything about being homeless. I haven’t ever volunteered at a homeless shelter, I’ve never housed anyone who was homeless, I’ve never been without a place to sleep at night. But I just can’t stop thinking about it.

The majority of homeowners think that they “need” a guest bedroom that will be used a few times a year. These rooms sit empty when there are people living on the streets. Not that all of you who have guest bedrooms should go and find a homeless person and put them up…I’m just interested in this crazy trend.

Shane Claiborne, author of “The Irresistible Revolution” has a lot to say about the homeless and how Jesus would treat them. This book is hands down my favorite of the entire year. I jokingly call it “my second Bible”. It will forever change you. Here is a review…

If there is such a thing as a disarming radical, 30-year-old Claiborne is it. A former Tennessee Methodist and born-again, high school prom king, Claiborne is now a founding member of one of a growing number of radical faith communities. His is called the Simple Way, located in a destitute neighborhood of Philadelphia. It is a house of young believers, some single, some married, who live among the poor and homeless. They call themselves “ordinary radicals” because they attempt to live like Christ and the earliest converts to Christianity, ignoring social status and unencumbered by material comforts. Claiborne’s chatty and compelling narrative is magnetic—his stories (from galvanizing a student movement that saved a group of homeless families from eviction to reaching Mother Teresa herself from a dorm phone at 2 a.m.) draw the reader in with humor and intimacy, only to turn the most common ways of practicing religion upside down. He somehow skewers the insulation of suburban living and the hypocrisy of wealthy churches without any self-righteous finger pointing. “The world,” he says, “cannot afford the American dream.” Claiborne’s conviction, personal experience and description of others like him are a clarion call to rethink the meaning of church, conversion and Christianity; no reader will go away unshaken.

It’s my dream to go visit his community, The Simple Way. I would love to interact with that group for a month and learn to truly look beyond appearances and love beyond myself.

One of my favorite singers, Ani Difranco, wrote a song called Subdivision. You can hear it on this site. Her music and her message are beyond amazing. And although I don’t agree with all of her positions on everything…and she likes to cuss, I think she is one of the most talented and brave voices out there. Here are some of the lyrics of Subdivision that have really stuck with me:

I remember the first time I saw someone lying on the cold street
I thought, “I can’t just walk past you, this can’t just be true.”
But I learned by example to just keep moving my feet.
It’s amazing the things that we all learn to do.
So we’re led by denial like lambs to the slaughter
Serving empires of style and carbonated sugar water and the old farmroad’s a four-lane that leads to the mall and my dreams are all guillotines waiting to fall
And I wonder then what it will take for my country to rise.
First we admit our mistakes and then we open our eyes.

Whenever I have visited a large city…with homeless lying “on the cold street”…something churns within me. I wonder what circumstances led to them losing their home. Drugs? Losing a job? Some other addiction? Just a bad string of events with no family to help? I always want to ask. But like Ani says … I’ve “learned by example to just keep moving my feet”. So sad.

I went to see the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness ” a few weeks ago and it deeply moved me. I depicts the true story of a single dad and his son…fighting to make it…and they do end up on the streets for awhile. It was heartbreaking, but such a wonderful film. Not a feel good film, but one that will open your eyes.

These thoughts have been on my mind for so long…it’s such a hard topic to talk about because if we truly LIVE out what Jesus has shown us…it requires us to ACT. It requires us to take care of others unselfishly. I know that there are many who can debate this topic more eloquently than I can…arguing that the wealthy need their large homes and toys to minister to those people who will only respond that way to Christ. I’m still thinking through all of that…and I know that God uses everyone where they are at right now, and with the possessions they have right now. But how much is too much? Where do we draw the line between having excess possessions to “minister to others” and living as Christ commands us? Where is the line between being too radical in your lack of possessions (if there is such a thing) and having too much?

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 9:6

It’s been a beautiful Christmas day! We’ve played outside, sat by the fire, and enjoyed family. I love holidays…when the pace slows down to a stand still, even for just one day. Here are some memories from our day.Thank you Jesus for the most amazing gift.

During the course of simplifying our lives, I have become increasingly sensitive to all of the electronic gadgets we use everyday. I find myself asking questions like, “What did people do before cell phones?” and “Why on earth would people watch that television show?”. And finally, “Could I live without my computer for one week?”.

Maybe the better question is, “Why would you want to, Sara?”. Well, let me tell you. It’s addicting, and I don’t like feeling that way. When I wake up in the morning, instead of an intense desire to meet with the Lord, I have an intense desire to check my email. When I have some spare time in the day, I would rather check blogs than read to my sweet daughter. When I should be going to sleep at night to refresh and heal my body, I am editing photos, posting blogs, or just mindlessly roaming the Internet.

During one of my quiet times this week, I started to talk to the Lord about my computer habits and I asked him if I should take a break. The next passage I read was this:

“I am the LORD; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.Isaiah 42:8

Wow. Ok Lord…you got me. I realized that the Internet, blogging, and computer time in general have become an idol in my life. It sounds so harsh, but an idol is simply anything that you are putting ahead of God. I have chosen the computer over God SO many times, and it needs to change. My God is a jealous God…he LOVES me so much and wants my attentions and worship. When I start to use energy that could be spent glorifying Him and getting to know Him better, He is saddened.

I am in no way saying that computers and the Internet are bad and that Christians shouldn’t be using them. To the contrary…there are so many amazing Christians who are online making a huge impact for Christ. It’s when we let it creep ever so slowly into our lives and take over that it becomes a problem. When our online community of friends is taking the place of real-life conversations and our time online exceeds the amount of time spent with family and with God…something needs to change.

When I am on the computer too much…so many things suffer. My relationships, my housework, my hobbies. I have made the decision to take a week off from the computer so that I can SLOW DOWN. I want to read books. Lots of them. I want to go to bed early. I want to get up and read my Bible over a delicious cup of tea without the computer beckoning me away. I want to give my FULL attention to Bella at all times. It’s also perfect timing, because we are all packed and will be moving tomorrow! This time of transition will be a great time for reflection and journaling. Plus, my laptop is in need of a few repairs, so it will be physically sent away this week to IBM to be fixed.

I am so excited for this break, and yet I am nervous. Nervous to feel the extent of my addition to this machine. I can’t wait to share with you all of the wonderful things God did because it was gone. I know I am not the only one who struggles with this problem, and I pray that if you are feeling Him tugging at your spirit right now…join me in this journey and be sure to tell me all about it!

I am so humbled and blessed by all of you that read my blog. I am amazed by you all! I love reading your comments and all of your own blogs. I hope that you will come back in a week and check in. I have several fun topics brewing in my head. But for now…it’s time to turn it off. Have a GREAT week! I know I will.

Photo credit: Flickr/ahhyeah

I’ve been thinking so much about what it means to be truly satisfied. I can look back through my life and pick out so many things I pursued that I thought would satisfy…but they all came up short. Relationships, money, possessions….none of these things satisfied me completely. Temporarily, yes. But not completely and without fault. The only thing that can offer that kind of satisfaction is Jesus Christ. Knowing Him. Loving Him. Glorifying Him. To quote John Piper, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him”.

Psalm 90: 14

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. (I love this one…when I meet with Him early in the morning, I am filled and satisfied all day. I am much more able to resist the temptations of this world!).Psalm 145: 15-17
15The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.

16 You open your hand
and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways
and loving toward all he has made.

Isaiah 55:2
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Isaiah 58:11
The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

 

Over and over, He says that HE will satisfy our needs. But in a culture that screams so loudly about how we’ll never be satisfied without more money, more stuff, more square footage…it’s no wonder we are distracted to the point of forgetting His promise.

If we take Jesus at his Word, and start trusting that He will give us all that we need…why do we need to pursue all the things that the world pursues?

Piper has this to say about it:

If Christ is an all-satisfiying treasure and promises to provide all our needs, even through famine and nakedness, then to live as though we had all the same values as the world would betray him. I have in mind mainly how we use our money and how we feel about our possessions. I hear the haunting words of Jesus, “Do not be anxious, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things” (Matthew 6:31-32). In other words, if we look like our lives are devoted to getting and maintaining things, we will look like the world, and that will not make Christ look great. He will look like a religious side-interest that may be useful for escaping hell in the end, but doesn’t make much difference in what we live and love here. He will not look like an all-satisfying treasure. And that will not make others glad in God.

What would happen if every Christian lived a life that “looked different” than the world? Would it be possible to live lives like those in the early Church? To live in complete community and share all that we have?

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles feet and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. *Acts 4:32-35

There were NO needy persons among them?! Amazing. The thing is, if everyone just shared what they had today, the same would be true. There is more than enough to go around…enough for the entire world. I know I’m thinking crazy thoughts…but it’s good to think about such things.

No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had?! Wow. Think about how much crime and hatred is the result of jealousy of someone else’s possessions. How caught up we get in determining what is mine and what is yours. Lawsuits, wars, divorces…

When we release our possessions and recognize that everything we have comes from Christ and belongs ultimately to Him, it’s much easier to have a loose grip on it all. We are just stewards of everything God has given us…none of it is OURS anyway. They are His to do with what He wants. It’s much easier to be satisfied when you take the distraction of possessions out of the picture. Jesus loved talking about money the poor. Fifteen percent of all His teaching revolves around those topics. I used to just skip over those passages apparently, because it wasn’t until I went deliberately searching that I realized how much Jesus wants us to take care of the needy.

Lastly, I will leave you with one last passage from Piper’s book “Don’t Waste Your Life”. It’s such a great reminder that although we should be salt and light and be “attractive” to others in order to win hearts to Christ, we also must be wary of becoming to comfortable in the “world”.

I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth “home”. Before you know it, I am calling luxuries “needs” and using my money the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don’t think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached peoples drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mindset that looks first to what many can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness.

A very convicting reminder…we are in this world but not of it. Do you look different? I’m going to leave it at that, and let you ponder. If you’ve never read of heard John Piper, I urge you to check him out. It’s deep stuff for sure, but well worth your time.

Be satisfied!

I love incense. I love it’s sweet, musky smell filling the room…but more importantly I love the symbolism of the smoke swirling and rising. On bibletools.org it describes incense as:

Figuratively, incense was symbolical of ascending prayer. The multitude were praying while Zacharias offered incense (Luke 1:10, thumiama), and in Revelation 5:8; Revelation 8:3 f., the incense in the heavenly temple is connected and even identified (Revelation 5:8) with “the prayers of the saints.”

Watching the smoke rise from my incense is even more powerful when I think of how my prayers ascend to heaven to my heavenly Father. I’m a very visual person…so it helps me to “see” my prayers go up before Him in my mind.

I do understand that incense has been heavily used in eastern and new age religions…but I don’t see why they get to claim exclusive rights to it! It’s biblical!

A psalm of David ::: Psalm 141.

¹ I call to you, LORD, come quickly to me;
hear me when I call to you.

² May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer ::: Revelation 8

¹ When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

² And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

³ Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar before the throne. ⁴ The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. ⁵ Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

My favorite scents…nag champa and a great oolong tea incense I got at Gong Fu. My incense holder is from Lotus in the Old Market of Omaha, NE. I love watching the smoke escape from the different cut-outs.

Self-discipline does not come naturally. We are born with the desire to do whatever feels the best, and it’s difficult to overcome. However, once it is mastered, it makes a huge difference in every area of life.

Self-discipline defined: the act of denying yourself; controlling your impulses.

Ah-ha! No wonder it’s so hard. When is the last time you heard a commerical on TV telling you to DENY yourself? It’s a dual struggle…against our flesh AND the culture we live in. The only way for me to gain control of my impulses, as the definition implies, is to pray continuously. Here are some of the areas that I struggle with:

• Sleep. I wrote about this yesterday…so no need to go into detail. I have a hard time denying myself of more internet time and my bedtime gets pushed later and later and later. Consequently, I am too tired to get up at 5:30 a.m…which is when I desire to meet with the Lord.
• Exercise. I used to work out daily at 5:30 a.m. 6 days a week. But that was back in year 2000 BB (before Bella). I have the desire now…but no discipline. For the time being I get my “workout” by chasing Bella, lifting her on my legs, climbing the stairs, etc. But it’s not enough to maintain a healthy heart. Maybe I will add that to my things to do when I get up at 5:30 a.m.
• Money. I have battled money issues throughout my adult life. It started in college…they told me I could have a free t-shirt if I signed up for their credit card. Sweeeeet! Next thing I know, I have $5,000 on that card and it’s only the end of my freshman year. Luckily, I snapped out of that, paid it off, and met Matt. We still had to learn a lot of money lessons the hard way when we were newlyweds, but it’s under control now. Especially with the Compact in full swing. We have no consumer debt and we only pay with cash, using an envelope budgeting system. However, even though we are following a budget, the struggle is with the DESIRE to buy things…not actually buying them. Wanting more, when I have more than enough. Even while on the Compact, I have choices to make regarding what we do spend. For example, I went grocery shopping today and I could have easily spent $100 if I would have allowed myself to buy everything I “wanted”… bread (instead of making my own), a sandwich for lunch (instead of going home to eat), apples (they are so expensive right now!), crackers for Bella (instead of making our own)…the list could go on and on. Instead, I stuck to my list and got an amazing amount of food for only $55.00. It was exhilierating to deny myself in this case, because it resulted in saved money.
• Food. I have always had a fast metabolism…and didn’t really have to watch what I ate. Now that I’m getting OLD…I need to be more mindful of what I put in my mouth. I have a horrible sweet tooth, and if I let myself start down a sugar path…it’s hard to come back. With that being said, I have incredible self-discipline when I want to…especially in the area of food. Eating only raw foods for an entire month? No problem. No meat for 2 years? No problem. It’s all the other little battles. Having another peanut butter cup doesn’t really seem like a spiritual battle…but it’s the attitude of that heart that matters. If I can practice self-discipline in the little matters…it will be easier during the bigger trials.
• Maintaining my home. When I discipline myself to clean the apt. throughout the day and put everything away after each use, I am a MUCH happier person. Disciplining myself to create a “place for everything” blesses my family. If I decide that I don’t “want” to do the laundry for 2 weeks…there are big problems. Isn’t it amazing how God can teach us lessons even through the mundane?
• My mouth. After high school and college, gossiping became a thing of the past for me. However, I still have to be very careful about my use of sarcasm…and my tone of voice in everyday conversation. It is especially important as a Godly wife to never speak badly about my husband to others. Every word out of my mouth is counted in heaven…I long to please Him with every breath. So challenging…

Basically it comes down to denying myself now for a greater reward/benefit in the future. Getting up early might not feel great now, but the long-term spiritual benefits are plenty. Deciding to exercise and eat healthy even when I don’t feel like it will bring health to me through the years of my life. Not buying everything I desire will allow us to save for more important things in the future. Having a discplined mouth brings honor in the present and no regrets in the future.

“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 1 Cor 6:12

I want only to be “mastered” by the Lord…who knows my struggles and my heart. He knows how to best teach me in this area. He displayed the ultimate self-discipline as He willingly went to the cross to die for our sins. My prayer is that I will die to myself daily…for I am not my own.

Throughout my life, the most rewarding and wonderful times in prayer have been when I have gotten up EARLY in the morning to meet Him. When I give Him the very first part of my day, I am able to accomplish much more than I ever thought possible. When I can make breakfast, get the laundry done, put supper in the crock pot, and have prayer time in before 9:00 a.m…life is GOOD. Scripture speaks over and over about the benefits of rising early.

“She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.” Proverbs 31:15

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35

There are two women that I have been so encouraged by over the years. The first is author and speaker Becky Tirabassi. About 6 years ago, I read her book, Let Prayer Change Your Life. She is the one who initially got me into “the early hours” and also into journaling. Secondly, a woman named Laine who writes letters of encouragement to Christian women on the web. She has written so much about her early appointments with the Lord. She’s an amazing woman of God and I come away smiling after every letter I read.

E.M. Bounds is one of my favorite voices on the topic of prayer. Even though he was born in 1835, the wisdom he relates is clearly still applicable. Here are some of his thoughts on prayer, excerpted from the book “E.M. Bounds on Prayer”:

A desire for God that cannot break the chains of sleep is a weak thing and will do little good for God. The desire for God that stays far behind the Devil and the world at the beginning of the day will never catch up. It is not simply getting up that has brought men to the front and has made them leaders in God’s hosts. It is the overwhelming desire that stirs and breaks all self-indulgent chains that does so. But getting up gives vent, increase, and strength to the desire. If they had lain in bed and indulged themselves, the desire would have been quenched. The desire aroused them and inspired them to reach out for God (p. 491).

More time and early hours devoted to prayer would revive and invigorate many a decayed spiritual life. More time and early house for prayer would manifest in holy living. A holy life would not be so rare or so difficult a thing if our devotions were not so short and hurried (p.518).

The first step to being able to get up early in the morning…is to stop staying up so late! So it’s off to bed I go. May you greet Him early…

It’s been 2 weeks since we committed to the Compact, and the topic of contentment has really been on my mind. It’s no wonder that so many of us struggle with it. As a nation, there is discontentment around every turn. We are constantly looking for a bigger house, a better car, a more exciting job…we are told every day by advertisers that we NEED all of those things…or we will be LESS than everyone else. Less successful. Less pretty. Less desirable. Have you ever paid close attention to those feelings that are created when you are looking at advertising or at something in a store? They are not happy thoughts. Thoughts of wanting, needing…the feeling that you are somehow deprived of the true joy in life if you don’t act now. When I go into a store, I am now acutely aware of those feelings…because I cannot act upon them. I look at an item, and then I stop and examine the thoughts running through my head. Pretty crazy stuff.

I’ve been trying to eliminate all sources of advertising in our lives over the last year or so…and it’s been an eye-opening experiment. I knew that the obvious offender was the TV. But the others are not so easily detected. What about advertisements in magazines? What about the magazines themselves? Looking through magazines like Country Home, Real Simple, and others…I see so many things that I WANT. Oh the goodies! What about magazines like Health or Self? Looking at the women in those magazines will only create discontentment with your body. Now take a look in your mailbox…Crate and Barrel…J.Crew. More WANTS. Look in your email inbox. You will see passionate pleas for your to open their message. Sales! Buy now…before it’s too late! The Sunday newspaper sales ads…full of STUFF to buy. Billboards that scream at you as you drive. And the most stealthy method of all…your friends. When you go to their house and see that they have something that is sooooo cool, you want it too. Even if you don’t need it. I experienced this just yesterday. I was at a girlfriend’s house. She has a rug that I was looking at buying a couple months ago, but decided against it. And even though I have a perfectly great rug now… for a moment, I thought that I needed that same rug because she had it.

As silly as it sounds, and as “strong” as you think you might be…it’s so easy to get sucked in by all of these things. You may not act on your “wanting” impulses right away, but it’s those feelings that just pile on top of one another, creating discontentment and desire, and pretty soon you’re buying a McMansion and filling it with goodies from Pottery Barn.

The mall is another temple of wants that I try to avoid at all costs. The term “window shopping” is really quite silly. They should just call it “driving myself crazy by making myself want things I can’t afford”. And now they don’t just make malls, they make “Lifestyle Centers”. Made specially for you to MAINTAIN your lifestyle. They make it hard to leave…with the food, coffee, playgrounds, lakes, trails, movies, colleges (yes, in a mall), you do just want to LIVE there.

For me, contentment is clearly a spiritual issue. In the past, whenever I have gone on a spending binge, it has been during a spiritual dry spell. I also tend to spend a lot more when Matt on a trip and I am lonely. I spend to fill a void in my life…to feel “happy”. That void should be filled with my relationship with Christ, not with stuff. But for some reason, buying stuff (even just a fancy coffee) changes my reality at that moment, but it’s a temporary fix.

I like what Joyce Meyers has to say about this topic:

Contentment is a decision to be happy with what you already have. One dictionary defines the word content as “rest or quietness of the mind in the present condition; satisfaction which holds the mind in peace, restraining complaining, opposition, or further desire, and often implying a moderate degree of happiness.”

We usually learn to be content by living discontented lives for a long time and then finally saying: “Lord, I don’t want to live this way any longer. Getting this thing or having that thing is not worth it.

“I don’t want to be miserable anymore. Just give me what You want me to have because unless You want me to have it, I don’t want it.

“From now on I’m not going to compare myself with anyone else. I’m not going to be jealous or envious of anyone. I don’t want what anyone else has. Lord, I want only what You want me to have.”

 

The 2 things that really stick out to me:

• She says that contentment is a DECISION. It does not come naturally. Don’t beat yourself up if it’s a struggle for you…but you can overcome it.
• “Restraining complaining, opposition, or further desire”. Further desire. Sometimes my whole mind is one big desire. I desire to be this, I desire to have this, I desire to be in another place, I desire a bigger or smaller this or that. To be content is to STOP all of those feeling that roam around your brain taking away energy. Energy that could be spent on the NOW. Enjoying your life for what it truly is. It’s energy that could be spent getting to know Jesus better.

Here are some verses that speak about contentment. I am going to meditate on these verses and memorize them throughout this year as we take part in the Compact.

Not that I am implying that I was in any personal want, for I have learned how to be content (satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or disquieted) in whatever state I am.

I know how to be abased and live humbly in straitened circumstances, and I know also how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance. I have learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well-fed or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going without and being in want.

I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency.

Philippians 4:11-13

Don't be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, "I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you," we can boldly quote,

God is there, ready to help;
I'm fearless no matter what.
Who or what can get to me?

Heb. 13:5, The Message

Better is little with the reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord than great and rich treasure and trouble with it. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it.

Proverbs 15-16-17

Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Wow. Such a complex topic…I feel as if I have hardly touched the surface. But everyday that I resist the urge to buy stuff, I get a little more content with what I already have. Baby steps. Thank you Jesus for being patient with me!

A friend posted something that made me think of a great song.

“This World”
by Caedmon’s Call

There’s tarnish on the golden rule
And I wanna jump from this ship of fools
Show me a place where hope is young
And a people who aren’t afraid to love

This world has nothing for me and this world has everything
All that I could want and nothing that I need

This world is making me drunk on the spirits of fear.
So when he says who will go, I am nowhere near.

And the least of these look like criminals to me
So I leave Christ on the street

This world has held my hand and has led me into intolerance
But now I’m waking up, but now I’m breaking up
But now I’m making up for lost time

It says so many important things about the state of our world. With everything that is happening around us, it’s so easy to be in constant fear. Fear of war, fear of flying, fear of terrorism….fear of global warming, fear of pesticides…fear of the suburbs? The list could go on and on. One of the reasons I don’t watch TV news is because I feel that it creates unnecessary fear. Why do I need Fox News to tell me something 5 times an hour for 24 hours? Their goal is to suck you in, create fear, and get you to keep watching. And watching and watching. Just in case something might happen. TV news makes me feel crazy just watching all the fires, sirens, murders, plagues…and all the flashy colors and reporters with their scary voices. Aaaah! Enough!

I much prefer READING the news on an alternative news source. Of course, it’s very difficult to find unbiased reporting…maybe because everything is owned by just a few people. If you don’t believe me, check it out for yourself. Here and here. Follow the money. I prefer to read at the BBC News and other international sites. I really like Sojourners, but that has a bent as well. I used to only search out Christian news and Republican sites, but have since realized that Jesus is neither of those things, so I’m not concerned about that. I’m more concerned with getting the truth and loving people.

Even if you don’t agree with everything I’m saying here, just be aware that you are being brainwashed if you are listening and reading mainstream media. Try…just for once, to search out your own answers about things you are interested in. You’ll be glad you did. But be careful…when you start to question one thing, it will lead to another. And another. Pretty soon, you’ll find that there is so much that you “learned” growing up that isn’t true.

Let’s not be drunk on the “spirits of fear”, but instead, use knowledge of our world for good. Make a difference! Talk to someone you wouldn’t normally talk to. Make someone’s day. Give a compliment. Fear God only and think for yourself.