Being Content Growth Purpose

Filled

If you have walked with Christ for some time, you know that there are times where you might feel closer to Him than you do at other times. It may just be one “off” day, or it may be a season where the passion of your commitment wanes in light of the trials of life. There are all sorts of proposed remedies for these ebbs and flows, from taking a sabbatical, to reading more books, to just waiting until the passion returns. And although some of may found some renewed sense of commitment after following one or more of these prescriptions, none of them explicitly employ Christ’s diagnostic for the problem. Christ turns the attention away from us, and onto the One Who should rightly be our source of satisfaction.  Instead of focusing on our feelings, Christ said that if we want to be filled, if we want to consumed with God, then the remedy is to do what God has asked of us. Obedience, in other words, is what drives us into a deeper (and steady) relationship with Him.

In delivering this lesson, Jesus uses the analogy of food, saying that doing God’s will is the nourishment that our soul desires (See John 4:34). Now, I know that there are people who say that they “forget to eat”, but I’m not one of those people. In fact, if I go too long without food, I have a pronounced physical reaction. Not only does my stomach make all sorts of growling noises, but I get what a friend jokingly nicknamed the “hangries” = hungry+angry. I have this reaction because my body is without what it desires. It needs sustenance, and it will continue to act out of sorts until it gets it.

The same is true with our souls. The ebbs and flows come because our souls are without what it needs. If we want to be filled, if we want to eschew the feelings of hunger and craving, then we need to quickly get about doing whatever it is that God is asking of us to do. And just as when our stomachs are filled with food, we experience a feeling of satisfaction and contentment, so our souls will be at rest when we are doing that which God commands. When we are consumed with doing what God requires of us, than He will be our satisfaction and desire. And He will be our nourishment and our strength.

Then we will be filled….with Him.

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Growth Relationships

Inconvenient Service

It doesn’t take very long in a marriage to realize that along with a lot of blessings, marriage comes with a lot of work. While building a relationship with the one that you love is wonderful, a lot of time this work requires sacrificing what you desire and what you need (or think you need), for the good of the relationship and the benefit of the other.

And while oftentimes we talk about this sacrifice in terms of the big decisions – a willingness to put your career on hold in order to support a spouse, or moving away to unfamiliar places to do what God has called you both to do, this decision to lovingly sacrifice shows up in a variety of smaller ways too. I was reminded of this when several weeks ago as I was getting ready to go to sleep, I asked my husband if he needed anything. To my surprise, he asked for a glass of water….after I had already cozily placed myself under the comfort of the sheets. While I mentally started to protest that the offer had expired,  I realized that if words were genuine, it meant I had to get out of bed and go get him a drink. Otherwise, what I had pridefully considered a loving offer was nothing more than window dressing. I wanted to go through the motions of making the offer as long as it was convenient for me. Once it required sacrifice, I was no longer eager to do it.

As I thought about this more, I realized that the same is often true in the Church. We volunteer to serve, but then get frustrated when our gifts or talents aren’t “properly utilized” (at least in our humble opinion.) Our offers of service become contingent upon our terms and conditions. If the time works with our calendar, or the work is something we enjoy, then we will serve. If it doesn’t meet our standards or our needs, than we quickly bail, or perhaps even worse – we complain.

However, this pattern of “service” is antithetical to the pattern set by our Master. He saw and met the needs of others, even during the moments He had set aside for rest (see Matthew 14:13-21). What mattered to Him was not the cost He would pay, but whether He was doing the will of the One who had sent Him (John 4:34). He cared not about temporary inconvenience, but eternal impact.

May this be our standard too.

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