The essay title grabbed my attention - We Live Like Royalty and Don’t Know It. The writer describes our 21st century comforts in contrast to the way people lived in America just 200 years ago. Of Thomas Jefferson, he says “despite his wealth and status his home was so cold in winter that the ink in his pen sometimes froze, making it difficult for him to write to complain about the chill. Jefferson was rich and sophisticated, but his life was closer to the lives of people in the Iron Age than it was to ours.”
We enjoy clean water, abundant food, great health care, longer and healthier lives … a long list of things that result from the growth of knowledge, the increase of wealth, and the construction of amazing systems that deliver most everything we need for living to us. (Let me quickly add that I know millions of people worldwide do NOT enjoy the comfort I know but that is a subject for another day.)
Here is what concerns me. Many of us are unsatisfied, ungrateful, and full of discontent in spite of it all. This is especially an issue for those of us who claim the Name of Christ Jesus, for we enjoy the greatest gift of all – God’s inexhaustible grace and mercy that provides life eternal!
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians begins with this – “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” That is more than a flourish of rhetoric. That is a declaration of truth!
Are you thankful, genuinely filled
with overflowing gratitude to God and others
that creates beauty and contentment
in you that spills from you onto others?
There is a
place that we can find in God’s love changes us, supernaturally, from the inside
out. Greed and envy die in the life of that person who knows the “joy of the
Lord” as more than a phrase.
When envy starts to make an appearance, we must choose to begin to offer
praise. At first it may a “sacrifice of praise,” but if we thank Him for
Who He is, for His faithfulness to us, for the assurance that He provides all
that we need for this day; we will find our soul resting in Him.
The Scripture says “I have learned to be content.” Yes, we must train
ourselves, by prayer and thankfulness, to receive the provision of God for the
day. The sinful nature will cause us to compare and then, largely, to
complain. When we whine about our lack,
we cannot sing of our blessings.
Here's a suggestion. In addition to a ‘prayer list’ how about making a ‘praise list?’
Write down things, big and small, for which you are grateful. That will change your perspective and free the Spirit to create a new kind of joy. Few things cause more problems among people than the ancient sin of envy. It masquerades as self-righteousness, criticism, holier-than-thou attitudes; ugly, divisive things that will destroy our peace with God.
Meditate on
this word from the Word.
Let God settle your soul in contentment and go bless your world with His love!
"Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness." (1 Timothy 6:6-11, NIV)
Lord, teach
us to give thanks – for Jesus, for Your love, for the Hope of eternal life, and
for the myriad blessings we enjoy. Amen.
________
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