THE PROBLEM: Looking at an infinite God as a means to finite gifts. Seriously??? Are we really doing this?? We look at our wonderful and glorious God who has created the world and who offers us Himself and all we can think about is the things that He can give us in this world.
We look at a verse like this: (Matthew 6:33)
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness
and then all of these things will be added to you.
When we should be looking at it like this:
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness
and then all of these things will be added to you.
This verse is followed by: So do not worry about tomorrow ; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. We are called not to worry about tomorrow and our needs, instead we should be seeking His kingdom and His righteousness. So this means that our motivation should not be receiving what we want, we really shouldn't even be thinking much about that. Our concern should be with seeking God well, the rest is more of an afterthought. Because honestly, when we are spending the 99.99999% of our existence with Jesus, those things that we " just had to have" are going to be dust. What is going to matter is the crowns that we have to throw at His feet and praise Him with! That is what we are going to care about! Our reward in heaven comes from seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness. And I don't know about you, but I think that when I am in heaven and all I care about is Jesus, I will want the best seat that I can get!
The Reality of Sacrifice and Contentment: I think that something very important to remember when we are seeking to live lives of contentment and sacrifice is that: The young lions do lack and suffer hunger ; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing. (Psalm 34:10) So right now, we have everything that is good and needed for this moment. We might not have what we need 5 years, months, days, or minutes from now. But what we have in this very moment, is enough.
Secondly, giving up our needs to God and being content in our situation is a daily pursuit. My room could get really messy and so I finally get fed up and clean it. Well, it is not going to stay clean on its own, is it? It takes daily upkeep. We can have a big moment with God where we decide that He is more than enough and we want to give up everything to Him. But we have to continue to reinforce this later that day, and then the next day, and the day after that.
Thirdly, giving something to God rarely changes our preferences in the situation. I can think of one time that I gave something up and received it almost immediately. It happened a couple of summers ago on a ten hour plane ride. I was in a part time program at A&M and I had applied for full admittance. I didn't know whether I had been accepted because I had spent the last few weeks overseas. Well, as I was on this plane, I gave it to God basically with the attitude that- If I don't get in, it's not going to be easy, but I trust that all Your ways are still good. I met my parents at the airport and immediately found out that I had gotten in. Now, this does not mean that if I would have been rejected that it wouldn't have, excuse my language, sucked at the time. BUT, the overall outcome would have been good because it was from God.
God desires our honesty:
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will you give you the desires of your heart." If we are delighting ourselves in God, we can trust that He puts desires on our hearts. And if we have a desire that is in line with scripture and where God is leading our lives, then He has put it there for a reason. That reason may or may not be to fulfill the desire, but God has just as much of a purpose for unfulfilled desires. Instead of taking measures on our own to fulfill this desire, just tell God. He already knows; He is not surprised. He may wish to fulfill this desire if we only ask Him. "You have not because you ask not." James 4:2b And you know what, when we go to God and humbly ask Him, we are putting our needs into His hands. And sometimes, we may have a perfectly good desire and we take it to God and he says no. David did. He wanted to build God a temple, but God said no. He commended Him on His idea which was pleasing to God, but it was God's will for Solomon to build the temple. And you know what David didn't do? He didn't go in his room and pout or indulge thoughts of bitterness, HE PRAISED GOD! And you know why? Because even though God didn't allow David to do that, He promised to establish David's house forever, and ultimately the King Jesus would come from the line of David. When we seek to please Him with our desires then He gives us what is best, even if it is not what we had originally wanted. We have gotten it into our heads that God wants to take from us everything we want and give us everything we don't want. Now, I do not believe our loving and caring God treats us spitefully. Nor will he be fooled if we pretend with Him.
And Remember: As great as our desires might seem to be right now, when we come to the end of our lives, only Jesus will remain. And if our lives come crashing down, JESUS STILL STANDS. We have nothing to fear.
Secondly, giving up our needs to God and being content in our situation is a daily pursuit. My room could get really messy and so I finally get fed up and clean it. Well, it is not going to stay clean on its own, is it? It takes daily upkeep. We can have a big moment with God where we decide that He is more than enough and we want to give up everything to Him. But we have to continue to reinforce this later that day, and then the next day, and the day after that.
Thirdly, giving something to God rarely changes our preferences in the situation. I can think of one time that I gave something up and received it almost immediately. It happened a couple of summers ago on a ten hour plane ride. I was in a part time program at A&M and I had applied for full admittance. I didn't know whether I had been accepted because I had spent the last few weeks overseas. Well, as I was on this plane, I gave it to God basically with the attitude that- If I don't get in, it's not going to be easy, but I trust that all Your ways are still good. I met my parents at the airport and immediately found out that I had gotten in. Now, this does not mean that if I would have been rejected that it wouldn't have, excuse my language, sucked at the time. BUT, the overall outcome would have been good because it was from God.
God desires our honesty:
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will you give you the desires of your heart." If we are delighting ourselves in God, we can trust that He puts desires on our hearts. And if we have a desire that is in line with scripture and where God is leading our lives, then He has put it there for a reason. That reason may or may not be to fulfill the desire, but God has just as much of a purpose for unfulfilled desires. Instead of taking measures on our own to fulfill this desire, just tell God. He already knows; He is not surprised. He may wish to fulfill this desire if we only ask Him. "You have not because you ask not." James 4:2b And you know what, when we go to God and humbly ask Him, we are putting our needs into His hands. And sometimes, we may have a perfectly good desire and we take it to God and he says no. David did. He wanted to build God a temple, but God said no. He commended Him on His idea which was pleasing to God, but it was God's will for Solomon to build the temple. And you know what David didn't do? He didn't go in his room and pout or indulge thoughts of bitterness, HE PRAISED GOD! And you know why? Because even though God didn't allow David to do that, He promised to establish David's house forever, and ultimately the King Jesus would come from the line of David. When we seek to please Him with our desires then He gives us what is best, even if it is not what we had originally wanted. We have gotten it into our heads that God wants to take from us everything we want and give us everything we don't want. Now, I do not believe our loving and caring God treats us spitefully. Nor will he be fooled if we pretend with Him.
And Remember: As great as our desires might seem to be right now, when we come to the end of our lives, only Jesus will remain. And if our lives come crashing down, JESUS STILL STANDS. We have nothing to fear.
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