Contentment That Is Not Circumstantial
God has a deep contentment waiting for us if we will simply receive it.
"The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.- Psalm 23:1
True contentment always comes from within and is rooted in abiding in close relationship with Christ. The world says the next "shiny object" will satisfy you but it never does and it never will. Only God can give you that. The world will try to convince you that contentment is always within your reach. It's within your power. If only you had the next car, boat, plane, business then you would be content. If only you had more money, more relationships, more sex, more, more, more than you would be happy. It's always in the future, and it's always contingent based on the "if, only" lie of the enemy. It's all an illusion, a game we play. We reach out to grab it, and it never satisfies because it never can and it never will.
Pure contentment comes not from our striving but from our abiding in Christ. It comes from a deep and pure love and trust of God. Knowing that because the Lord is your Shepherd, as Psalm 23:1 says above, you lack nothing. True contentment is internal, it is not circumstantial. It is much deeper than our circumstances, which are constantly changing. It is above fear and uncertainty. It is an unshakeable belief in who God is, and who you are, because of who God is. It's knowing how much you are loved in spite of the mess you have made, in spite of your sinfulness, in spite of your rebellion against Him.
It's knowing that nothing in your past or future can separate you from the love of Christ as Paul writes so passionately in Romans 8:35-39: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
That is where true contentment comes from. That type of love and certainty is the only thing that can truly change us from the inside out and gives us the deep contentment we all desperately want, but search for in all the wrong places. We must stop striving to try and find that contentment in our own way, and simply receive what God wants to freely give us. That's the only way to remove ourselves from the world's hamster wheel living of constantly striving to be accepted and prove our worth, which leads only to exhaustion. God showed us a transformational love through His Son Jesus who died to forgive our sins and set us free. Resting in that love is the only place where true contentment exists that is beyond our circumstances and our striving.
#doughallmedia #thewell #truecontentment
