Valerie is a 42-year-old, single, Reformed Christian lady who lives in Baltimore. She doesn't remember a time
before she knew and loved Jesus, but she does remember accepting John Calvin into her heart in March of 2000.
Valerie is a member of Christ Reformed Evangelical Church in Annapolis.
Though her career aspiration is to be a housewife, Valerie has not yet found anyone suitable who wishes to hire
her for employment in that field (or, more properly, anyone suitable has not found her), so in the meantime she
earns her daily bread working in communications -- editing, writing, print design and website management.
Thoughts on Contentment
One of my elders read this as the opening exhortation in our worship service a couple Sundays ago. I asked him to send it to me so I could share it with my readers. I, of course, had no need to reread it myself, being the serenest creature on earth's face, with ne'er a worry nor care. ;-P
Are you content?
Are you happy with all that God has given you?
Are you satisfied with where you are?
Contentment isn't pretending things are right when they are not, but instead the peace that comes from knowing that God is bigger than any problem we may have and that He works them all out for our good.
Contentment isn't the complacency that defeats any attempts to make things better, but instead the willingness to work tirelessly for improvement, clinging to God rather than results.
Contentment isn't a feeling of well-being contingent on keeping circumstances under control, but instead a joy that exists in spite of circumstances and looks to God who never varies.
Contentment isn't the comfortable feeling we get when all our needs and desires are met, but instead the security in knowing, as A.W. Tozer reminds us, that "The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One."
If we enter the material world for our contentment, it pulls us in deeper and deeper, and the pull is deceptively strong.
"That for which I long becomes that to which I belong."
If we view contentment by the world's standard it is a relative state; if we view it from God's perspective it is absolute that God will provide all that we need.
"Contentment lies not in what is yours, but in whose you are."
Jeremiah Burroughs in The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment writes, "Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition."
We relate better to God when we are satisfied with what He gives us. We might say words of worship, but if our hearts are not resting in the contentment of His Presence, He is not fooled. The Christian position from the beginning has been that people are satisfied by becoming reconciled with God, not by acquiring things or being someone that they are not.
Therefore, let us approach the throne of God being content in Him alone and being grateful for everything that He has provided.
On August 13, 2007 10:24 PMAnonymouswrote... That Burroughs book has been one of the most important books of this decade for me. And yes, I am learning, in whatsoever state that I am in, therewith to be content. ~Eleanor
