Content? Yes; Satisfied? No (May 28, 2023)

Content? Yes; Satisfied? No (May 28, 2023)

There was an interesting discussion at the end of a recent sports season whether or not it was a failure for a particular team because they did not win the championship. Remember that there are dozens of teams competing in any given sport, and that only one will be the champion. So for all the losers, discontent and dissatisfaction reign, right? Well, no, and yes.

The Bible clearly teaches contentment. God gives blessings: to some, many; to others, few. But in the light of those blessings, we are to be content, whether many or few. Paul says: “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I 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 seems to mean being at peace with where we are at the moment. It is accepting the lot that God has apportioned at this point in time. Are you in a hospital or some other place you don’t want to be? Can you be content there? If you trust the Lord, you can. It doesn’t mean that we want to stay there, but it is accepting your lot in the moment, even as you pray and work for a different future. 

Part of this contentment is understanding the God shapes our lives, and He intends each and every situation to be a learning and leaning experience for us: to learn Christlikeness and to lean on our heavenly Father. We are content as we learn and lean because we know that God intends it to be good for us.

But satisfaction has more to do with a vision of the future, informed by the promises of God. It has to do with opportunities for service and witness, for investment in eternal things and growth in grace, slow and unseen though it may be, whether in ourselves or in those we disciple. There is a sense in which we will never be satisfied, though content, until Jesus comes again and all things are set right. Paul speaks to this as well, when he says, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” He is not satisfied now with what he has accomplished in the past, even though he communes with God in the moment with wonderful contentment. God continues to give opportunities of all kinds, and we dare not waste them.

The psalmist got it right about contentment in the last verse of Psalm 16: “You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” The psalmist also got it right about satisfaction in the last verse of Psalm 17: “As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.”

Have You not Done This to Yourself? (Jeremiah 2:17)

 Have You not Done This to Yourself? (Jeremiah 2:17)

A phrase used multiple times in the Old Testament goes along the lines, “you will fall into the pit that you yourself have dug.” In these texts, the “digger” intended the pit as a trap for someone else. It is important to remember where you dig your traps.

How many trappers have hidden traps in the woods or along a stream, only to return and become the prey themselves? But this happens to all of us.

I remember a friend on the tennis team in college, a kind and classy guy, who had a great line when his opponent argued about an “out” ball (players were responsible to call lines in their matches). Ken said to his opponent, “Why are you mad at me (for calling it out)? You were the one that hit it there.” We might be angry with a police officer for pulling us over for speeding. But who was doing the speeding? None of our arguments overturn the fact that we ourselves were driving over the posted speed limit. “Have you not done this to yourself?”

When we neglect to pay our bills and find that our credit rating has been cut, “have you not done this to yourself?” When we don’t bother to maintain the car and we face a major repair bill, “have you not done this to yourself?” And we could recount many more instances of stubborn foolishness on our part that produces a result that is entirely predictable, and, we did it to ourselves.

God in His love sent His Son Jesus as the only Savior for our sins. This message is clear, and it has been widely and repeatedly published. And yet many people have given no serious consideration to the greatness of the gift to be received, or the penalty of failing to do so. Someday, there will be a judgment, and I wonder if God will not perhaps use Jeremiah’s line from chapter 2 verse 17, “have you not done this to yourselves.” You yourself rejected the gift. You yourself chose a different way. You yourself will have brought your own condemnation rather than salvation down upon your own head.

Yes, there are many lies and deceptions that abound in the world. You may have been duped by some of them, such as, this earthly life is all that there is, and there is no such thing as eternal consequence. But every funeral you have ever attended says something quite different, and even you yourself, deep down, suspect that it is not true. Or you have heard that church is full of hypocrites, so you don’t go, because you don’t want to hear what you don’t want to hear. And there you go, doing it to yourself.

Nabal and Abigail (Sunday, May 14, 2023)

Nabal and Abigail (Sunday, May 14, 2023)

Not all matches are made in heaven. Or, we might say that not all matches are heavenly. Nabal and Abigail were not cut from the same cloth. Oh, we can say that God must have put them together. And God had Abigail in such a place that she could avert David from his wrath and eventually become David’s wife following the death of Nabal. But they were not alike.

The name “Nabal” comes from the same stem as “foolish.” Names in the Bible often mean something, and whether Nabal’s parents spotted this trait early on, or, maybe it was just a popular name from social media, that’s what they named him. One reference where this word is used is in Proverbs 30:32 "If you have been foolish in exalting yourself; Or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.” Nabal would have done well to put his hand on his mouth.

“Abigail,” on the other hand, means “father of joy,” or perhaps, “source of joy.” How could “fool” and “joy” walk hand in hand? The Bible describes the two of them this way: 1Sam. 25:3 “And the woman was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings.”

We had a Nabal and an Abigail in our congregation years ago. They have both passed away now, but the one was mean and ugly; the other was delightful and kind. She loved him and put up with him until he died, and I remember a deacon and myself helping her care for him in the home until he died. She continued on, humble and unassuming, and I still talk to people from time to time that she blessed. No one ever said that they were blessed by her husband.

Why does God allow this? Perhaps it’s a human lesson of what God does for us? We, like Nabal, can get caught up in our own business, forgetting the kindness of others to us and refusing kindness to others in need. We can be all about ourselves. But God is still kind to us, showing up in the midst of our charge toward retribution with roasted grain and clusters of raisins ( cf. 1Sam 25:18) to refresh us and to have us reconsider our course of action. As we come to Jesus, our “old man” is put to death, and we are born into a new life that will have more to do with joy and kindness than with foolishness. We will no longer be all about ourselves, but will step into the lives of others for their blessing.

And in the midst of it, we find a new partnership, a new marriage. Whereas once we were married to that which would threaten to drag us down and drown us, now we are married to Christ.

Last and First (Sunday, May 7, 2023)

 Last and First (Sunday, May 7, 2023)

I’m not into horse racing and I’ve never cast a bet, but the story of the 2009 Kentucky Derby gets me every time. I’ve watched the YouTube of it over and over, and it seems to me to be a wonderful illustration of principle found in the Bible that “the last shall be first.”

“Mine that Bird” (where they get these names, I don’t know) gets crowded coming out of the gate and settles far back, behind the field. The announcer mid-race, calls out the names of the horses, from first to last, and nearly neglects to even notice Mine that Bird, so far back. The announcer is watching the front of the field as the race approaches its end, and again does not notice this small horse coming up the rail at the end, passing the field and winning by more than six lengths. His voice reveals his surprise. He can’t believe this long-shot horse from the back of the field could actually emerge as the winner.

There was nothing that suggested Mine That Bird had a shot at winning the Derby… The horse was so runty and bland-looking that he had fetched only $9,500 at auction two years earlier. And his pedigree was so unfashionable that his owners castrated him — eliminating any chance of a lucrative post-racing career in the breeding shed — to try to coax better races out of him.

This description reminds me of these words from Isaiah 53: “He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” (Isaiah 53:2–3 NAS95). We understand these words from the Old Testament to be about Jesus, the Suffering Servant, who would die as a falsely-accused criminal for His people, who would be forgiven their sins. He rose from the dead and lives forevermore. He is called “the last Adam,” abut also He is called “the firstborn of the dead;”King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who will reign forever and ever.

The question that we should ask ourselves is this: Is Jesus last in our lives, or first? Many would say that He is somewhere in the middle, but I fear that is not possible. Either you accept Him, or reject Him. He will either be your first love and loyalty, or none at all. And your response to this Jesus will determine your place at the finish as well.