We’ve spent the month of September in a challenge to spend time with the Lord everyday. In an effort to do that, we’ve been using the book, Thirty Days of Devotion. As we near the end, today’s entry is particularly important.
When you’re pressing for something, striving, once you finally achieve your goal, it can feel empty. If your mind is focused on the task, what others think, celebration, what you deserve, or any other distraction, you’re likely to get that empty feeling.
After the happy celebration passes.
Because life in the Spirit doesn’t have anything to do with happiness.
Life in the Spirit builds joy. That sense of contentment, peace, and enthusiasm pervades your life whether you have a victory or a defeat. Whether you’ve completed the task or had a set-back. Whether people like what you’ve done or talk about you behind your back.
It’s all good. Or it will be. And that’s a promise in our love letter from the Lord. That those uglies (as part of “all things”) work (present tense, something that is already happening in the midst of the uglies) together (with any other uglies as well as positives) for your good (“those who love God, who are called according to His purpose”).
That’s big picture good. Not that you’ll get a pony on your next birthday, but you can rely on His good for His purposes which are ultimately for our benefit and the big-picture benefit of His kingdom.
Easy to see how living out that verse can stimulate the contentment.
Your turn: How does contentment infuse your life, or do you need contentment in an area of your life?
If you’ve never heard of First Call, by all means listen to this You Tube video!
Marji Laine 
2015/September at 1:58 pm
I was talking with a friend recently, and she & I figured out that we both felt our personalities make it “easy” to be content! I don’t know why (other than the grace of God!); I have always been this way. Though come to think of it, my Mom’s cheerfulness and my Dad’s optimism must have played a part. I am very thankful, as it has made it easier to navigate the twists and turns of my chronic illness. Praise God.
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2015/September at 3:51 pm
I can’t help but suspect your contentment – peace – has been a component of your survival and the strength of your family. Going through all that you have might well have destroyed someone who needed to be in control, worried to excess, or compounded the stressful living with constant complaints!
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