Thanksgiving for Discontentment

Scripture clearly points out that thankfulness and contentment in our circumstances is important. Paul talks very clearly about the idea of being thankful to a God that loves us and wants us to remember his faithfulness in all our circumstances.

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).

“Be thankful. [Have] gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:15-17).

But I wonder…Is discontent always unhealthy? What does the bible say?

I think back to the Israelites as they left Egypt headed for the “Promised Land.” There was a two fold feel about Egypt from the Israelites. They hated that they were treated the way that they were in Egypt. They were discontent in Egypt and wanted to be a people that were free. On the other hand, they were comfortable in Egypt. Even though they had to be slaves, this is the only land that they knew. They leave Egypt, headed for the desert to follow the “I AM” on a journey.

The Israelites are discontent in Egypt as I am to be discontent with the former self that I have in me. Paul says that “we cannot be conformed to the pattern of this world, but we must be transformed by the renewing of our mind.” I cannot be content living in sin. God abhors sin. He hates it! We have a sin nature that we are called to be discontent with. Are you discontent with your Egypt?

The Israelites stumbled when they were discontent with the journey that God had taken them on through the desert. I can’t be discontent and am called to be thankful when I am walking in the journey of life that God has called me to walk.

God, help me to walk with you and be thankful always for you pulling me from my Egypt and leading me on this incredible journey to YOU!

Love...with Grace and Truth...

I John 4:7-12
John 1:14

Each talks about the characteristics of God. I John implements that the definition of love is God. If God is love, as I John 4 points out, then we must get to know what it means to love. Our culture throws a totally distorted view of love at us. If we look at the advertisements, if we look at the television, if we listen to the radio, look at billboards, or even watch movies, we find that the distortion that our culture gives us is that love is equal to infatuation. This simply isn't true. Of course, culture as distorts truth and so to say that love is an infatuation would be normal for culture to perpetuate.

In John 1, we find that Jesus was full of grace and truth. Often, I think of loving someone as offering grace all the time. I don't remember that there is an element of truth that I must recognize and engage in. When my father disciplined me as his son, it wasn't that he didn't love me. In fact, it was because he loved me and wanted to move me in the right direction. God is the same way. He is the very definition of love, full of both grace and truth. If we are truly going to see him for who he is, gaze upon his face, we uncover that he is going to stare the sin that we have in our life down and he is going to call sin SIN.

Why do I write about this today? I write about the church, the body of Christ needing Christian community but also needing to love each other in very healthy and biblical ways. We desire to be biblical followers of Jesus Christ but I think that sometimes we distort truth because our culture dictates that we do so. We often can swing a pendulum so far one way that it is problematic and unhealthy. At this point, I think that the pendulum for some people is on the truth side and for some people on the grace side. Can we look at this pendulum differently? Can we look at grace and truth working together more as a rubber band than as a pendulum? The ingredients of both bind together to create this biblical love that John writes to the community of believers in first John. Grace+Truth=Biblical Love. I'm not all about the equation, but it seems to me that if we are going to try and be a community of faith that loves others, we must know what love is. John defines it. God is love. WHAT CULTURE MAKES LOVE IS A LIE. It is a complete distortion. What God makes love is truth and can be claimed as such. When we experience the love of God, we experience what it means to be deeply in love with a God that sent his ONLY Son to this earth to DIE on a cross when he did absolutely nothing. The Father sent his Son, knowing that only some would come to him to be in relationship with him. What amazing love. Unbelievable really.

God, you are love. Help me to understand the amazing truth of this statement and to live my life responding to YOU...