I am nesting in my new place- setting up a home and making multiple trips to Target. I am grateful for God’s hand on the space He provided. The lady at the apartment complex commented, “Your unit is the only one with a large private balcony.” Recognizing God’s fingerprints, I replied, “It’s a gift.”
At the same time, I am encountering the “I wants” when it comes to my nest. I want a rug, I want a desk, I want an office and the list goes on. I recognize my heart constantly encounters the intersection of “I have” and “I want.” I wonder to myself how to navigate my journey when I find myself at this crossroads.
When I focus on “I have”, I can become self absorbed about the things in my life and start to cling to them as my security.
If I fixate on “I want” I can tend toward comparison and bitterness.
I say all this to bring up the theme of contentment. It is a major thread which runs through our stories. To be honest, I really struggle with making sense of the tension.
I assume most of us agree there are things we are grateful for and there are also things we’d change if we could. I think it’s clear too– some chapters are more difficult than others. The grass can truly be greener.
Lately I am reflecting upon what the apostle Paul says to Timothy, “. . .. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy. Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.” The apostle says we can possess a vast amount of treasure in a place beyond “I have” and “I want.”
The intersection is godliness and contentment.
I looked up the definition for godliness in my handy Logos Bible software and found the following, “awe, reverence, respect” toward God leading to actions of devotion. Contentment means “adequacy, sufficiency.” The place where we continually receive great gain occurs at the corner of awe for God and sufficiency. Our hearts receive a fresh dose of awe for God each day as we appropriate His sufficiency in every circumstance, affirming He is adequate to meet every need of our hearts.
We can pray for a deepening satisfaction with God. Satisfaction with Him does not mean we avoid desiring changes, developing our relationships, or pursuing dreams. It means we resist thinking God owes us or is somehow cheating us. This is the danger Paul points out as He continues his train of thought about being content (I Tim. 6:7-8). I want to view God’s intimate involvement in my life each day as I do my balcony~ as a gift. When I allow a demanding spirit to make its way into my thinking, I soon find myself at “I have” and “I want.”
Sister, I want us to live at the corner of godliness and contentment. I pray you find His love, presence and power sufficient in your life today which spills over into increasing reasons to praise our Savior who is always near. ~Laura
