Contentment

One of the things that God has really been pounding into my head over the past few months is the idea of contentment. I had a very rough first month and a half of my second semester at Portantorchas due to worrying about relationships and my future. I was very emotionally unstable and I went from being really happy one day to crying my eyes out about something in my life that made me dissatisfied the next. And as a Christian this is not how I am called to live. I cannot be driven by my emotions. I cannot try to satisfy myself with things of this world, of this life. I am learning that in Christ, I can have the freedom of contentment.

In Philippians, Paul writes,

11Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need."

Contentment is not something natural, but something that Paul had to learn through hard life experiences. Contentment goes against everything that our world teaches us. We are bombarded with wanting that next better version of our material possessions, with wanting that relationship that will bring us our happily-ever-after, or simply desiring to be out of the bad circumstances that we are in right now. This way of life leaves us always wanting more and constantly living in dissatisfaction.

So, the solution is that we must learn to be content. In all the suffering and hardships that Paul went through, he had to learn not to depend on external situations to bring him happiness, but instead look constantly to God’s truths to be sufficient for him. Paul became independent of man and anything that the world could throw at him because he was completely dependent on God.

So here’s the thing. In Christ is the only place where we can find contentment. Matthew 6:33 says that we are to not worry about our lives, but instead to “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.” We have compete access to God no matter what our circumstances. Therefore, if we keep our eyes on Christ, we can find continuous contentment.

We’ve all heard the expression, “The grass is always greener on the other side”. If we are living in Christ, this statement is a lie. The grass is greener on OUR side. Think of it like this. God has given us a specific block of grass that we are responsible for. We can spend all of our time looking at the blocks of grass given to the people around us and wishing that they was ours, or we can choose not to complain and be thankful for the grass that God has given us, to water it, to care for it, and help it to grow and flourish. In the same way, I need to be thankful for the life that God has given me, look at the people and circumstances that God has placed in my life, and figure out how I can love and care for those people and use my circumstances to bring glory to God.

God promises to provide us with everything that we need, and He will never give us more than we can handle. Therefore, we don’t need anything more that we have right now, here, today, in order to be content. But it is up to us whether or not we choose to be satisfied in Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 6:4-10, Paul writes,

4Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

This is the freedom that I have in Christ. I don’t have to live my life depending on the things of this world to make me happy. I could easily find numerous things in my life that could be better, but what good would come from that? God doesn’t want me to dwell on the past and “better times” or to worry and fear about the future. He wants all of me, here and now in the present to live my life in complete dependence of Him. And as I seek Him, I will learn to be content and find peace during the storms or even simply during the somewhat dull routine of everyday life. As we can see clearly from Paul’s life example, we can be happy and find God’s peace no matter what this world throws at us. Praise God!

Extremely Brief Update of Second Semester

Well, I neglected my blog during my whole second semester in Costa Rica, and now I'm feeling the pressures of updating you all on the many things that I've learned over the past 4 months. I'll try to make it somewhat snappy.

2nd semester was completely amazing. However, it definitely wasn't easy. My first 2 months were extremely rough. But God has clearly been at work in my life (He tends to show up a lot more during our storms, because that is when we are forced to seek and depend on Him.) and in the lives of the people around me.

I guess I would say that my first semester at Portantorchas could be summed up as a new country, new culture, new friends, lots of fun, learning more about God etc. However, after spending 2 months back home and thinking a lot about our futures after Port, I think that we (the other Port students and I) went into our second semester realizing that our experience wasn't going to last forever, that we needed to take advantage of it, and live as though we actually believe that our sole purpose is to live for Christ--not saying that we did that perfectly (because we didn't), but the community atmosphere was so much better 2nd semester. All the guys met every morning before breakfast to pray, and my friendships with a lot of the girls grew so much deeper as we shared in experiences, struggles, good times, and grew together in Christ. I made some of the best friends of my life, and I'll never forget any of them.

It's hard now, because we all are back in our hometowns thousands of miles away from each other, and we know we can never get that particular Portantorchas experience back. But, despite the sadness, we can be happy to know that God doesn't change. As I start this new chapter of my life, so far away from the beautiful experience that I've just had, I know that God is here with me. I know that I don't belong anywhere or with anyone except to a living God who will always give me what I need to get through. And if I continue to seek Him, I know that the journey of life will keep getting better, not easier necessarily, but I know that He has great plans for me.

So, from now on, I will always be missing someone, but God will always be right here with me!

I have so much more to vent about all that I've learned, but I will save all that for another day.