Steps to contentment: Step 2 – Protect

Welcome to week 2 in our study on contentment. Contentment in the biblical sense is peace with God and satisfaction in the circumstances where God has placed you.

Contentment is what we want, but we cannot have contentment without faith. If contentment is that lush, green, fruitful garden, then discontentment is anything that endangers the growth of the garden.

Reading for this week: Luke 10:38-42

Over the summer, the kids and I weeded our overgrown yard for about 20 minutes a day. Even though 20 minutes doesn’t clear much, I have noticed that over time, we have slowly begun to open up the landscape to allow for my husband’s green-thumb creativity. It’s as if the yard finally has some room to breathe.

However, a new problem has made an appearance. Deer. They walk around the yard like they own it, eating anything that looks good. My superbells are chewed down; my new pineberries (a strawberry cultivar that tastes like pineapple) look like thick blades of sporadic grass. As we continue to develop our garden, we now have to research deer resistant plants and build deer fencing around our new vegetable garden. We need to protect what’s growing.

Being content is also a constant battle for turf. The story for today is one of our first encounters with Mary and Martha, two friends of Jesus. Both women are serving Jesus in the story. One is sitting and listening. The other is prepping a meal. I can relate to both women. However, I struggle with this passage because Martha’s service gets a bad rap. When Jesus denies Martha’s plea for help in the kitchen, it seems unfair. My gut response is to say, “Do you know what it takes to serve 13 plus hungry men? Good luck feeding those guys.”

 

Painting by He Qi

There are two problems with Martha’s service, though. The first, Luke says, “Martha was distracted.” And the second, Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion and it will not be taken from her.” I love the firmness of Jesus’s response. It will not be taken from her. He is protecting Mary. But he is also protecting Martha from the dangerous assumption that service to God is more important than time with God.

Contentment is only possible with time with God. You can work and work and work in your garden, but if you haven’t spent time protecting it, if you haven’t spent time with the Master Gardener, you will never experience your garden of contentment.

In your pursuit of contentment, you need that valuable time with Him. And that time needs to be protected. Protected from distraction. Protected from worry. Protected from anxiety. And even protected from service. The kind of service that distracts from the very One who is to be served.

Step 2 in the pursuit of contentment: Protect your garden by spending time with the Master Gardener.

Dear Lord, I forget to spend time with You. Please forgive me. Never let my service to You replace spending time with You. Help me to encourage others to spend time with You. Grow my garden of contentment. Amen.

This week, let’s read about the blessings of spending time with God. As you read Day 2 – Psalm 23, take confidence in the fact that when the Lord is your shepherd, when you focus on Him, you realize that you have everything you need. And when you know you have everything you need, that is the beginning of contentment.

Day 2 – Psalm 23

Day 3 – Psalm 37:3-7

Day 4 – Ephesians 3:14-21

Day 5 – Matthew 6:19-21; 25-33

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Steps to Contentment: Step 1 – Weed

A friend of mine asked if I could write on the subject of contentment. (I do take requests!) So for the next few weeks, we will study the steps to contentment through the eyes of scripture.

Reading for this week: Luke 8:4-15

We recently bought our first home. As garden and landscaping enthusiasts, my husband and I have big plans to turn our overgrown yard into a small, botanical oasis. While there is a lot of potential, the yard has been neglected for years.

Think of contentment as lush, green, fruitful landscaping. Contentment is peace with God and satisfaction in the circumstances where God has placed you. Contentment is what we want, but before we can even begin to draw up the landscaping plans, we have an unbelievable amount of rocks, thorns, thistle bushes, and weeds to deal with.

In the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8), there are four basic responses to God: reject, forget, become distracted, or believe. Only in the last response lies the path to contentment. But even though I am a believer, I struggle with being content.

When I look more closely at the third response – becoming distracted – I see my problem. “They are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14).

In other words, I wholeheartedly believe God and his love for me, but sometimes I mistakenly equate being content with experiencing the good life. I base contentment on whether or not I feel that life is good. And if the good life is endangered, missing, or lacking, if it is without health or without riches or without excitement, if it becomes monotonous, unforgiving, or difficult, I panic. In my distraction and worry, the threatening thorns, weeds, and rocks begin to take hold once again and jeopardize not only the growth of my garden, but also the very life of the garden.

So how do we grow our gardens? The last verse of our reading gives us a landscaping plan. “As for that in the good soil, they are those who hearing the word, hold fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” Hear the word, hold fast to God, and grow your garden with patience.

Step 1 in the pursuit of contentment: Weed out distraction by holding fast to God, your master gardener.

Dear Lord, Focus my heart and mind on You. Make me hold fast to You so I am not distracted by the cares of this world. Make me content in all circumstances. Amen.

Continue reading these well-known passages about contentment this week.

Day 2 – Philippians 4:11-13

Day 3 – 1 Timothy 6:6-12

Day 4 – Hebrews 13:5-6

Day 5 – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

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Temptation and Our Coat of Many Colors

Reading for today: Genesis 39:1-23

Painting by Richard McBee

Joseph had lost another coat. His first coat, an expensive coat of many colors, was destroyed when his brothers betrayed him. That coat had symbolized favor and wealth. Yet, in an instant, he went from the privileged son of a great nomadic leader, to a stripped Ishmaelite slave.

But Joseph found favor again. His new Egyptian master, Potiphar, recognized Joseph’s talent and made him second in command. He was clothed as a high servant, no longer a meager slave.

Painting by Richard McBee

Potiphar’s wife, however, also noticed Joseph and tried to seduce him. Joseph resisted the temptation but lost another coat as he ran from her. That coat had also symbolized favor and wealth. And when he lost it, he found himself in prison.

Resisting temptation is not simply a matter of choosing what’s right over what’s wrong. If that were the case, resistance would be easy. Resisting temptation, however, usually involves a sacrifice.

In the case of Joseph, he knew what favor and wealth felt like. And when he had it again in Potiphar’s house, it fit like a glove. He was successful and well loved. Resisting Potiphar’s wife came at great sacrifice. It cost him the favor and wealth he had finally regained.

That’s what makes temptation so hard. We see immediate benefits lying on the other side of temptation. Benefits we feel we deserve. Coveting those benefits drives us to excuse our actions, convincing ourselves that the ends will justify the means. On the other hand, choosing to say no to a temptation involves a sacrifice that seems unfair and difficult. In extreme cases, like Joseph’s, that sacrifice may cost us everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve.

But Joseph’s story does not end there. While his decision to resist Potiphar’s wife cost him his position and years in prison, God clothed him again in a royal coat, as Pharaoh’s second-in-command (Genesis 41: 42).

When you are faced with temptation, the temptation to leave your wife or love someone other than your husband, or take the answer key for a test or cover up fraud or break a promise, remember two things. One, temptation is never just about you. Your decisions affect your relationship with others and with God. Two, there is always a way out. That way may seem unfair or difficult, but it never goes unnoticed by God. He promises to both help you and bless you.

While we may never wear the coat of royalty as Joseph did, we are promised royal clothing. Isaiah 61:10 rejoices in God’s promise to the faithful, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.”

Painting by Deborah Waldron Fry

Dear God, I am feeling pressure about ______________________. You know what’s right for me to do. Teach me Your ways and help me walk in them. No matter the consequences, I will trust in You. Amen.

Be encouraged this week by what these Biblical authors have to say about temptation and God’s help for us. Psalm 51 is especially important to read because there are many times where we fail and need God’s forgiveness and his help to get back on track.

Day 2 – Hebrews 13:4-6

Day 3 – Hebrews 2:14-18

Day 4 – I Corinthians 10:12-14

Day 5 – Psalm 51

*Thanks to Pastor Steve, his Bible study was the springboard for this devotional

 

 

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Faith: This is not as good as it gets.

We’re back in business! After the summer off, I am ready to study the Word with you again! But before I start posting, I wanted to showcase a bit of Toby’s thoughts. The following devotional is an excerpt taken from his sermon, preached yesterday (August 7, 2016). If you would like to hear his full sermon, it will be posted this Tuesday at http://www.crossview.net/sermons/

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

Faith is difficult for so many reasons. Belief in Jesus Christ? How many of you here have ever seen this Jesus guy? And you believe he is the very Son of God come in the flesh? That he did all those miracles mentioned in the Bible? That his getting crucified somehow covers all the sins of the whole world?  That he then rose from the dead on the third day? Tell me, when was the last time you saw someone rise from the dead? And you believe this?

You see, this whole faith thing should be impossible. Yet you believe. You’re staking your life, and your life after death, on this Jesus guy you’ve never met. Your ability to believe all this has to be a miracle. Or else you’re crazy, we’re all crazy. All the millions and millions of us Christians who have believed the gospel and held the faith, in spite of all the things we haven’t seen. It’s crazy.

But just like God created and still sustains the universe, He created us in the faith, and sustains us in the faith. And all the problems that we have in this life are there to remind us that in spite of what the world might say, THIS ISN’T OUR HOME.

It’s not our home because Jesus told us we have a new home. Right before he was arrested he made a point to tell his believers, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in me, too ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if it wasn’t so, I wouldn’t have told you that I’m going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I’m gonna come back and take you to be with me so you’ll be where I am. ⁴You know the way to the place where I am going. Before long, the world won’t see me anymore, but you’ll see me. An because I live, you also will live.” (John 14)

That’s the promise that all this faith stuff is based on. It’s what we all rely on. It’s what gives us hope in the middle of everything that goes wrong, every day. It’s the firm substance that we believe gives our life meaning. We believe that one day, Christ will come again and that he’ll bring us to the home he’s preparing for us. And that we are going to live like we’ve never lived before!

Dear God, Give me faith! Amen.

Readings for this week:

Day 1 – Hebrews 11:1-16

Day 2 – Hebrews 11:17-12:3

Day 3 – 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

Day 4 – John 14:1-14

Day 5 – John 14:15-30

 

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