Stirring the coals a little
I have a tough question for us this morning - I will not apologize for meddling a bit. What is it you find your greatest contentment in? Is it your job? Perhaps your hobby? Some relationship that is blossoming or being renewed? Or maybe it is in what you have been able to accomplish in your community? If we are honest about what we find our contentment 'in', we might be more concerned about what we are 'in' and desire to change what is 'in us'.
But as for me, my contentment is not in wealth but in seeing you and knowing all is well between us. And when I awake in heaven, I will be fully satisfied, for I will see you face-to-face. (Psalm 17:15)
Contentment is really that deep sense of satisfaction we find in what we engage in, but more importantly in what engages within us. When God's grace engages within us, we find our focus on 'things' or 'others' who attempt to substitute for the contentment we find in him begins to dwindle away. The more God fills us, the more content we become to let go of the other things that we have been spending so much time pursuing that really ended up being rather 'hollow' in comparison to his fullness.
Knowing all is well between us and God - isn't that the greatest thing we could ever seek in life? Right relationship between you and I is one thing, but when our relationship is right with God first, the rest of these relationships we share take on a totally new light! There are times when we will find we lose focus on keeping things right between us and God - it is only human nature that we drift now and again. Rather than beating yourself up when you realize there has been a change in what 'engages' you, seek to 're-engage' with him!
Seeing God face-to-face. How many of us can say we long for that day? I know there have been periods of time when I have desired this with an intensity that was like a fire burning inside of me, but to be totally honest with you - that intensity can get snuffed out by the things of this world if we let it. Contentment is found in allowing the intensity of that fire within us to be rekindled. Have you ever sat by a fire at night under the big open sky and just been silent? You watch as the embers crack and pop, drifting upward into the open sky until they fizzle and are gone. Yet, deep within that fire, there are coals that burn hot.
Our little shifts in focus are like the embers that drift upward, fizzle and are gone. What remains consistent is the thing we might liken to the hot 'coals' of the fire - his grace and love that burns hot within us. His love and grace can rekindle any 'burned out' place of our lives, but we have to allow those 'coals' to be stirred up in order to see the fire burn brightly again! Just sayin!
But as for me, my contentment is not in wealth but in seeing you and knowing all is well between us. And when I awake in heaven, I will be fully satisfied, for I will see you face-to-face. (Psalm 17:15)
Contentment is really that deep sense of satisfaction we find in what we engage in, but more importantly in what engages within us. When God's grace engages within us, we find our focus on 'things' or 'others' who attempt to substitute for the contentment we find in him begins to dwindle away. The more God fills us, the more content we become to let go of the other things that we have been spending so much time pursuing that really ended up being rather 'hollow' in comparison to his fullness.
Knowing all is well between us and God - isn't that the greatest thing we could ever seek in life? Right relationship between you and I is one thing, but when our relationship is right with God first, the rest of these relationships we share take on a totally new light! There are times when we will find we lose focus on keeping things right between us and God - it is only human nature that we drift now and again. Rather than beating yourself up when you realize there has been a change in what 'engages' you, seek to 're-engage' with him!
Seeing God face-to-face. How many of us can say we long for that day? I know there have been periods of time when I have desired this with an intensity that was like a fire burning inside of me, but to be totally honest with you - that intensity can get snuffed out by the things of this world if we let it. Contentment is found in allowing the intensity of that fire within us to be rekindled. Have you ever sat by a fire at night under the big open sky and just been silent? You watch as the embers crack and pop, drifting upward into the open sky until they fizzle and are gone. Yet, deep within that fire, there are coals that burn hot.
Our little shifts in focus are like the embers that drift upward, fizzle and are gone. What remains consistent is the thing we might liken to the hot 'coals' of the fire - his grace and love that burns hot within us. His love and grace can rekindle any 'burned out' place of our lives, but we have to allow those 'coals' to be stirred up in order to see the fire burn brightly again! Just sayin!
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