Archive | The Secret of Contentment RSS feed for this category

The Skittle Lined Path

I’m going to let you in on a personal secret. This may come as a surprise to some of you, but it’s true: I don’t like it when life gets hard. I want my walk with Jesus to be all pleasant, all the time. I would prefer minimal to no suffering, and would like most [...]

Continue reading...

Though I Starve, I Will Bless the Lord

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God [...]

Continue reading...

Enjoying Where God Has You Now

If traveling to the future were an option, I’d be all over it. The future has such promise, and I’ve spent many hours pondering what’s to come. When I was single the future held the promise of marriage. Now that I’m married the future holds the promise of buying a house. I longed for the [...]

Continue reading...

Taking Away the Sting of Affliction

Only two types people can be content in the midst of affliction: Monkish types who wear chafing robes and seek to overcome pain by annihilating their desires and Christians who have found their contentment in something, or more specifically someone, other than their circumstances. Jeremiah Burroughs puts is this way: There is a power of [...]

Continue reading...

I’m a Greedy, Discontented Pig

Discontentment does funny things to me. Like turn me into a greedy, ungrateful pig. Point in case: my budget. There are times when money is a teensy bit on the tight side. My bank account starts running thin, and the McDonald’s value menu starts to look like a little bit of heaven. You’ve all been [...]

Continue reading...

Some People Have to Learn the Hard Way

If only… You complete the sentence. If only my mom was in better health. If only I wasn’t drowning in housework. If only I could get a job that paid me what I’m worth. If only I could get rid of these constant headaches. If only I could get married, buy a car, own my [...]

Continue reading...

When Your Shrimp Are Too Big

Years ago, when my wife told me she had entered a contest on the local Christian TV station to win a cruise, I said, “Kristi, why waste a stamp? Nobody ever wins those things.” A few weeks later I heard Kristi answer the phone: “Yes, this is Kristi. What? Are you kidding?” Yes, Kristi’s name [...]

Continue reading...

Did Paul Wear Wrestling T-Shirts?

I’ve never been a big fan of t-shirts with cheesy, tough-man slogans splashed across the front. You know the kind I’m talking about. The words are written in jagged lettering and say something like, “Pain is just weakness leaving the body”, or, “No pain, no gain”, or “I like being jabbed in the eye with [...]

Continue reading...

The Cubicle of Death

There’s a well known saying that, “The grass is always greener when you dump lots of manure on it.” So true indeed. There’s another, lesser known saying that goes something like, “The grass is always greener on the other side.” Also very true. In fact, I’m living proof. When I was in high school, I [...]

Continue reading...

Remedies For The Discontented Heart

Go to God, your exceeding joy. Psalm 43:4 says, “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy…” God is the source of all joy, deep joy, exceeding joy. When you’re tempted to be discontented, run to God, the source of your joy. The temptation in discontentment is to do [...]

Continue reading...