“1Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death, 3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, 9…you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you… 10If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness, 11But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh- 13for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out. “Abba! Father!” 16The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him” (Romans 8: 1-4,9-17).
Life with Christ is not an easy life. We are reborn by the Holy Spirit on the inside, while wrapped in the same sinful flesh of this world. Our hope is in our future as children of God. We long and look forward to when we will be united with our Father in eternity. When all of the fallen world will be cast aside when Christ comes again, and we will be remade in His imagine sinless and rid of the lusts of the flesh. This is the struggle. The duality of walking in the Spirit of Christ and battling with the temptations of the flesh. Thanks be to God Jesus over came all temptation we will ever face. Through our faith in his life, death, and resurrection God has poured out grace on us and sees the righteousness of Christ, not our sinful state. With our hope in this promise from God, how do we deal with the struggles of the flesh now? I believe this is the toughest question facing Christians. This is where so many get side tracked and how the imagine of the Christian life gets destroyed by outsiders looking in. As Christians we have the greatest gift in all of history to help us deal with the temptations of world. The presence of the Holy Spirit and the gospel – the good news of Jesus the Christ. The message of hope and redemption through faith and repentance. The most powerful news headline ever! And so many churches and preachers these days are replacing this message with story-filled self motivating sermons devoid of the life saving, Christian strengthening, word of God. As Christians we must keep the gospel at the fore front of our minds and never forget where we came from. We are all sinners saved by grace. Be grateful for what God had done for us!
I remember what you did for me.
I was completely clueless
I had no inclination to be saved.
I had no idea I even needed saving
I thought being raised in a religious home was enough
Yet You gave me the greatest gift possible…salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
I was and never will be deserving of such a gift
It changed my life forever
It will forever be a reminder and my catalyst to a humble and contrite heart
IF I can keep my eyes on You and not the selfish desires of my flesh….
Thank you Jesus for the grace You pour out for me every day!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Forever and ever AMEN!
Proverbs 19:3
A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord.
Contentment. A word we all seek after. A word that can be extremely elusive. Once caught, its seems to slip away almost as quickly. What makes contentment so slippery? Why can’t we hang on to it? Reread Proverbs 19:3. The world teaches us to chase the desires of our heart and go find true happiness. Oh don’t worry, happiness is different for everyone, you’ll find yours some day. When you do you’ll be content in the life you’re living. Or will you? What makes us happy one day may not be the same thing that makes us happy next week or month or 5 years from now.
Often times during my writing process, I sit down to type out these chapters, but I can’t make any progress. I have my notes done, but it’s like staring at a blank wall. I’ve always thought about why that is. I’ve thought about the term writer’s block, or it being poor motivation, but these don’t fit the situation. Trust me, I wanted to be done with this book already. I wanted to be done with this book years ago, but no matter how much I try to push through it, I find myself crawling along. Sometimes it is after I’ve gotten through the introduction paragraph. Some times it is smack dap in the middle of a chapter. I’ve had to go back, delete, and rewrite entire chapters because they just weren’t right. I’m constantly learning as I write this. The Holy Spirit is growing me through every experience. This chapter on contentment another such lesson. It’s one thing to try to write about something from an external perspective. Its entirely different when you’ve been given the task of writing about something you are learning internally. When I stall in my writing process, it is because I am trying to write the chapter from the wrong perspective. This book is my testimony to what God has taught and brought me through. It is one thing to know about something. It it a completely different thing to learn and internalize it, to make it a part of who you are. I’ve mediated on this chapter for a while now. I’m constantly turning it over in my head and talking to God about it. That is a key part to my learning process. What I had to learn and internalize before I could write this chapter is gratitude. The level of gratitude toward someone who saved my life. Living a life grateful for the gift of salvation. The grace and mercy of the gospel present in my life every day. When I wrote the first draft of this chapter, it felt incomplete. Like I was missing something. Sure enough I was. I was missing the part were God was trying to expose my sin of lust. I just talked about internalizing over knowing. Well my fist approach was in a state of knowing. Yes I got the importance of grateful heart, but there was more, hidden by denial. Through what he was teaching my brother and a sermon from a pastor at a church Scott was leading worship at, the Holy Spirit put the screws on me once again. As result of that I came to realize is my desire for a lazy, passive, and self indulgent life style. I’ll get into those details later, but the punch in my gut was while writing a chapter on contentment in Christ, the Holy Spirit showed me how I’d become content in my sin.
There are so many different messages out there for finding contentment. What it comes down to is what does your relationship with God through Jesus Christ look like? Do you truly believe? The bible makes it pretty simple. Jesus told us himself “33‘But seek first the kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own'” (Matthew 6:33-34). Verse 34 is rarely discussed when verse 33 is quoted. Jesus tells us that our days will have troubles. So a trouble free life is not a life of contentment. This passage is usually preached as a way to mislead people into thinking we’ll get what we want if we just follow God. This is in fact a very lustful interpretation of scripture. Going into a situation expecting God to give you what you want. Self centered and self serving. It’s a trap we easily fall into. Such was the situation if found my self in a couple years ago. The company I worked for, Praxair, was closing the Charlotte plant where I worked. It was of course completely unexpected. I went through the usual process of God what will I do, I can’t loose my job and all that. After a short time of woe is me, I of course began to ask God what the plan was? The men’s group I had been attending for the past several years was breaking up. It seemed to me that things where coming to a transitional phase in my life. After telling a former coworker of the closing, she told me she could probably get me a great job in TX as a shipping manager. I had never considered moving at that point, but I figured I’ll see what happens. It did put a thought in my head though. God could be calling me to somewhere else. That shipping job never panned out, but I was offered a transfer within Praxair to Houston, TX. I began to warm up to the possibility of moving. I had spoken with my former coworker several times, and this is where the lust of the flesh can sneak in. I had always been interested in a possible relationship with her, but never considered it would be something to pursue, so I figured if I moved, may be things could workout, but most of all I needed a job and this was an easy opportunity. So I moved, with the hope in the back of my mind that maybe God was sending me there to find a good relationship with a woman I was interested in. My expectations were that I would be getting exactly what I wanted. This was not the case. The relationship never panned out. It didn’t even really lead to a friendship. It did lead into a lot self inflicted stress and disappointment, but God had a better plan to work out. When I got to Houston one of the first things I realized was that I needed a church to go to. I prayed for God to lead me to a church, which He did, and very quickly. Within a couple weeks one of the maintenance guys at my apartment complex invited me to church. It took me suffering through a week of a busted shower, in the middle of a HOT Texas August, but God has a way of helping you appreciate His timing. So I slowly began try to settle into my new city life. To keep this story as short as possible, the the church I was lead to was teaching some heretical celestial courts doctrine and, needless, to say I did not attend their services for very long. I did however join a small group they introduced me to early on. I had a lot of things in common with the couple leading the group, and they were followers of Jesus. We listened to the same apologists and read several of the same books. Though as time went on they did begin to become more and more influenced by the leadership of this church. I enjoyed the friendships I made in that group and whenever possible I would redirect the focus on reading from the bible and following the word of God. I would eventually leave the group as the influence from church’s leadership and doctrine become more and more ingrained in the small group’s teachings. The leader of the small group did direct me to a great bible believing church when I told them I was leaving. This taught me that even those of us who are born again can be mislead by false teaching. Something Peter and Paul constantly warned about. There was one couple that ended up leaving that church and the group as well, as they realized the teachings of the church they attended were not following the truth and teachings of Jesus. The church was teaching yet another prosperity and wealth reward system. Feeding on the lusts of people to gain prominence and wealth as a church. After almost a year in Houston, it was announced that Praxair was going to close their Houston plant as well. Yes I know, I was like what the crap, again? As with everything in this life we live, God was 100 steps a head of me. I was offered a new job back in Charlotte through a former manager of mine, and I got to move back home! My stay in Houston was the catalyst for this chapter. God started to teach me about contentment while I was there. I learned about how my expectations will affect my level of contentment. If I am constantly seeking out how God will serve me and reward me as I move through life, I can quickly become unappreciative of my relationship with Him. It will become a very selfish and one sided relationship. Very unhealthy, and driven by the my lustful desires. I learned not to get caught up in my disappointments. Our expectations of getting what we want may not be met by God’s plan, but as we pursue those things, we need to pay attention to the opportunities to serve. The couple that left the church was very grateful for my presence there. As they began to read their bibles, the Holy Spirit revealed to them the folly in the teaching of that church. The husband was a new Christian, and he was very grateful that he did not get caught up in such heretical teachings. How great and wonderful of a God we serve! I mean, look at everything that had to transpire for God to drop a man into a small group just to help two faithful Christians receive reinforcement of their faith and the truth of God’s word. Before I got there the wife of that couple was becoming more and more uncomfortable with the practices of that church. God was faithful to reveal the truth to them. Even though I was hoping for a particular outcome from my move to Houston, while I was there, I was still listening to the Holy Spirit lead me along. I kept my faith in the word of God, and made sure to keep it at the center of my perspective. Measuring all things against it in the proper context of scripture.
Houston was a prime example of what God constantly asks me. Do I trust Him? When things are not going how I planned it, do I still believe that God is in control? Granted some times I’m so focused on what I want, I do not hear his voice. It can take time and a lot of frustration until i do. Do I trust in the fact that He is God, and no one but Him knows how things need to transpire to accomplish His will? His will to bring as many people into a relationship with Him as possible. God calls us to be a holy people. “14As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior, 16because it is written, ‘YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY'” (1 Peter 1 :14-16). Lust places my happiness over God’s holiness. It puts me at the center of the relationship, when my relationship should be Christ centered. Lust is one of the most destructive forces in any relationship. It is completely self serving, self centered, and lacks any of the fruits of the spirit. It is a completely flesh stratifying way to live. Lust is about taking for yourself only, to use the other person, people or thing to fill your selfish desires until we’ve had our fill. Which you’ll come to find out that those desire cannot fill us. So, we cast them to the side and move on to do it again. Our relationship with God can become like that. The prosperity gospel approaches God the same way. As if He is someone to serve our whims and desires. Lust leaves us empty, and it empties the other person we feed on of their self worth. It leaves them to seek and fall victim to another person’s lustfulness. These desires cannot fill us. It leaves us unsatisfied, cold, and slaves to our fleshly cravings. Lust is not just sexual. It stems from all of our desires. It could be the work alcoholic, who consumes themselves with work just to squeeze our every possible ounce of success and sense of accomplishment at the expense of their coworkers or family members. Fame, fortune, money, drugs, etc. can all be the the self-centered motivation to take and take and take until we’ve ruined all the relationships we have and the people we had them with. This can happen in friendships as well. If they don’t feed your need for attention, you move on to find another group to feed off of. Lust is everywhere, in everyone. God warned us that we should not covet our neighbors’ possessions. Not just the material, but the spiritual, emotional, and psychological as well.
I believe the easiest place to see the effect lust has on relationships is divorce. Statics have the US divorce rate close to 50%. Christian homes are not excluded in this number. As Christians, marriage is supposed to be a relationship that reflects Christ’s love for us. Jesus constantly compared the relationship between Himself and the church as a marriage. Relationships centered on Christ are relationships of contentment. When a man and woman follow Christ together love abounds. When we are not following Christ at the center of the relationship, lust can creep in and lead to self-centeredness. If not identified and dwelt with quickly, it’ll lead to the destruction of the relationship. Having things in common is different then making them the center of your world. Look how many marriages are failing once the children leave the home. Marriages should not be child centered institutions. What you build your relationship on is what will be needed to maintain it through out its life. If its money, work, children, recreation, etc., once that is gone where is they foundation? Society has replaced biblical love with lust. Romance is a good and fun thing, right? But what does the bible say love is? 4“Love is patient, love is kind and it is not arrogant, 5does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account wrong suffered, 6does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7bears all things; believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:4-6). This biblical definition of love sounds a lot like what Paul was writing in the section of Romans I have quoted in the beginning of this chapter. It sounds a lot like walking in the fruits of the Spirit. Paul specifically defines the fruits of the Spirit. 22“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things is no law. 24Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passion and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Sprit. 26Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another” (Galatians 5: 22-26). These things sound great, but it is definitely the hardest part about the Christian walk. Why is that? Because we forget our first love. Christ. A statement Jesus makes against the the church at Ephesus in Revelations 2:4. This happened to me, even as I wrote this chapter. I’ve been very selfish in my relationship with God. My prayer life has been reduced to just moments in passing through my day. I stopped taking time out of my day to spend with God. I wasn’t reading scripture out side of what was in my notes. Instead I consumed my time with activities and leisure. Just as I did when I was married. My ex-wife and I had a very self centered relationship. Each of us had expectations of what the other would fulfill in each others lives, without taking any of the responsibilities for it. That did not translate well into our marriage. Each of us expected the other to take care of things. Communication was near zero between us, and it only took about a year before we called it quits and separated. We finalized the divorce about a year or so after that. This was years before I became a Christian, but the same approach affects my relationship with God. God has a purpose for us all. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). Just like a healthy relationship, we cannot sit ideally buy and expect God to take of everything. We must keep out path of communication open through prayer and reading His word. If not we’ll become consumed with ourselves. When I turn my focus on my desires, and put them before what God is calling me to do, it causes anxiety and frustration. Of course at first it couldn’t be my fault, right? I see the faults in everyone else around me. I found myself criticizing the sermons at church. I’d watch people doing what God has called them to do. All the while I was being a lazy bum with what God has given me to do. Eventually I stopped attending my regular church services, and the bible study too. Discontentment was my friend now. Now I could spend even more of my time in leisure. Avoiding my responsibilities. It truly is a relationship between us and God. He doesn’t want a bunch of little robots mindlessly doing what he wants, he wants it done in love. Just like the warning Jesus gave the church in Ephesus. “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first” (Rev 2:4). I had begun to take for granted what Jesus did for me. I forget that there is no love outside of Christ. I forgot the depravity of my sin, and the price that was paid to give me the grace and righteousness of God. I forget how grateful I should be to God our Father, for the mercy poured out to me. Love is a choice. Look at how love is described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 that I quoted earlier. Each and everyone of those actions have nothing to do with the individual. They are outward expressions of a choice we have to make. Will I choose to be patient toward someone else? Will I choose to not hold a grudge? Will I choose to rejoice in the truth? A heart of stone cannot love. That is why when we received the gift of salvation, God gives a new heart, and we have to choose to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh. It’s a process to learn all of this. It is called sanctification, and it is why we must never forget the gospel. When we forget that, we begin the walk into lust. We take our eyes off of Christ, and stop sharing that same grace to those around us. It is so easy to go about our lives and get lost in the rat race that is the world. I always think about the Israelites as they went through the desert. God lead them by a pillar of fire and a pillar of clouds, yet these people still took for granted and were ungrateful for what God had done for them. How much more do we need to be on our guard ourselves from the lure of lust in our lives? Just as in the parable of the strong man. The Holy Spirit cleans us out. If we are not walking in the Spirit, the lusts of the flesh with come back, and like the parable, come back in force. It is our responsibility to maintain our part of the relationship. Relationships require interaction. God is always there, always available to us through Jesus Christ. If we do not keep Him in the center of our lives, we will quickly find something else that will lead us astray.
Contentment comes from knowing and walking with God. Letting Him lead us in His ways, not ours. Surrender. Letting Him give us what we need, and not try to tell Him what it is. We tell Him our desires, wants, feelings, situations, and we trust Him to answer with what is in our best interests and at the beast possible moment to fulfil His will. Peter tells us how our relationship with God and our knowledge of Him guides us into a path of contentment. Notice how this reflects the fruits if the Spirit. 1“Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord; 3seeing that His divine power had granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins” (2Peter 1:1-9). The knowledge of God has given us EVERYTHING we need to live a Christ centered life. It is our responsibility to put these things to use, and to not let what we see diminish our faith in the promises of God, and the life yet to come in eternity.
We grow in the knowledge of God through His word and through our prayer life with Him. This is all made possible through the death and resurrections of Jesus. “15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgement; because He is, so also are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love; but perfect loves casts our fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:15-19). Our faith is in our future with Christ. We must keep our focus on that. When trial and tribulations come, we need to understand that God will use these things to grow and strength us. Peter teaches this in his letters. 3“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, even through now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:3-9).
The duality of the Christian life. A reborn sprit in a body of flesh matches the duality of contentment. We must maintain our relationship with God through a grateful, loving heart and humble obedience. More often than not God will call us out into uncomfortable spaces, to leave us solely dependent on Him. Go with the flow. He will not lead you astray. So many times God’s answer to me is, well put your money where your mouth is. You want to share the gospel with people, well you’ll get your chance. It won’t look like what you’re expecting, so you’ll have to take the opportunities on faith and trust in Me. Contentment. Walking in faith, in accordance to His word, with a trusting and grateful heart. Let God have control of your life. Take on the role like Paul and Peter, to be bond-servants of Christ.
Heavenly Father we need you every day. Guide our hearts and convict us of our sin. Identify our selfish ways. Expose our shellfish desires. Let them be drowned in the blood of Jesus. Our faith is in You, the one true King, redeemer and savior. Thank you Lord for your Holy Spirit, Your advocate and teacher. Thank you for Jesus our Lord and intercessor. Thank you for your presence and the rock of your promise. Thank you for the life you’ve given us, and the hope in Your kingdom to come. Grow our faith in You through whatever trials and tribulations you see coming out way. All things are known to You, past, present, and future. Lead us in your ways, and let Your will be done through us! Halleluiah!!
“Search me, oh God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalms 13 9:23).