Philippians 4:11
Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
Wednesday nights here around the Bynum household is usually a "breakfast for supper" meal.
So I'm sitting in my chair after supper....
Cup of coffee to top everything off. (Or as one former client use to say..."I'm just going to fill in the chinks).
Soft breeze blowing in from outside...
I've got my house shoes on...and life is good.
I mean it is good.
I had gone to the heart doctor for my yearly check up, and gotten an A+ on my report. The old ticker is motivating and moving the way it should.
The renovation work we began back in August of last year is slowly headed to the finish line.
I suddenly realized that I was content.
There in my chair, with my coffee....I was content. There was a peace in me, and around me, that wasn't of my own doing.
It wasn't because of the things I've written about (Heart check up or renovation, or even the meal). The contentment came because I knew that no matter what my situation was, God was in control. He was in control, and I didn't have to be.
Those moments we run into where everything seems right with the world are the best. Are they not?
But those other times when it seems as though the wheels are coming off and everything around us is falling apart are no less important to God or to me. According to Scripture, the apostle Paul wrote that he'd learn the secret of being content no matter what. He wrote of being stuffed with a good meal, or those times when there wasn't anything to eat. He wrote of those days when he had his freedom and wasn't under attack, as well as those dark days when he was in prison, or had been beaten. He said that the secret to navigating these up and down parts of life is to place our faith solidly on God to take us all the way. Paul stated that "I can do all things......." What falls under all? Everything. We have been called to live life. I know that sounds like a dumb statement, but it's true. We haven't been called to simply exist and crawl our way to the grave. We've been called to live life, with all it's hardships and problems, to the glory of God. We are living testimonies to others about this God we have chose to follow.
I've heard it said more times than I care to count, that our lives may be the only book that others read. Really? Me? A Bible? Yeppers...Others will either see Jesus manifested in the way we handle situations, or they won't. Don't get me wrong here in what I'm writing. I'm not talking about looking religious. I talking about being in a relationship with the living God. One that can't be hidden, or faked. I confess that I'm not always good at this "Being a Bible in front of others". Sometimes the Bible I am seems to be stuck in the Old Testament. You know...the parts where God has told someone to lop off somebody else's head. I'm angry about a situation and I want to show someone my Old Testament side. God gently reminds me by thumping my noggin with a "don't be this way" moment. I confess that I am a work in progress.
This whole contentment thing comes from trusting God, that He knows best in every situation I am facing. Not trying to run around fixing everything, or running away from everything, but allowing myself to face it all, and trust Him that He will instruct me as I move through my problems. I know that this whole divine contentment thing isn't the way the world does business. And to some of you who read this posting, it may seem totally alien, but I'm just crazy enough to believe that if it is in the Bible, then it's in there for a reason, so maybe I'd better take a look at it.
One last thing...
Being content doesn't mean that you're satisfied with everything.
It just means that you are spiritually in a good place.
That you are o.k. today.
Why?
Because like I said....
"God is in control".
God on you....
mbb
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