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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Purpose

Ready to Obey

During this time of year, it’s not uncommon to frequently hear the nativity story. This is s a good thing because it reminds us of the reason that we are celebrating and the sacrifices that Christ made in coming down to Earth. One of the participants in the story, however, often seems to be overlooked. Joseph, Mary’s betrothed, is the man who raised Jesus – a child who was not his own. While we often focus on Mary’s response to Christ’s arrival, how Joseph reacted is instructive for us as well.

When you think about it (and I mean really think about it), Mary knew that the Son she was carrying came from God and not from human conception. She knew where she had been, what she had participated in, and if she was pregnant she knew it had to be  the result of God’s divine will. Joseph, however, had to take this on faith. He had to rely on the veracity of both the angel’s testimony, and his finance’s word. Many of us, I’m afraid, would not have responded as obediently as Joseph did. We would have asked for proof – some sort of verification that Christ’s really was the result of divine intervention. But Joseph didn’t.  As Scripture tells us, he simply “he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife” (Matthew 1:24).

He obeyed, even though everything in his culture would say he shouldn’t, even though he was risking his reputation, his place in the community, and his family’s future, he acted in accordance with God’s Word.

And this wouldn’t be the only time Joseph readily obeyed. When an angel appeared to him, telling him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt, Joseph got up in the middle of the night and started on their way. He didn’t wait to figure out the best season to travel, or to take the time to consult relatives and officials.

When God spoke, Joseph did what He said without equivocation, without delay, and without consideration of how obedience would affect him and his dreams and plans.

May we all as readily obey what God speaks.

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