FROM CONTENTMENT TO WILD EXUBERANCE

FROM CONTENTMENT TO WILD EXUBERANCE!

Heb 13:5

5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

           In our mind “being content” conjures up thoughts of being not-quite-satisfied. It’s like driving a Nash Rambler when you would rather be driving a Lincoln Town Car. Both are cars. Both may be buffed to a bright shine and both might turn heads, although for different reasons. 

           Contentment is like the character “Ralphie” in the classic “A Christmas Story.” The end of the show finds him sitting on the floor amidst wrapping paper and toys. All the family seems wrapped in a dreamy Christmas aura except for Ralph. Dad asks if everything was alrig                 ht and Ralph answers that everything was fine. Then Dad spies something in the corner behind the desk. It is one forgotten Christmas package and it is shaped like his greatest hope. Could it be? How could it be? Ralphie rushes to the corner and tears open the box to reveal his hearts desire. Yes! It is a Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock and “a thing that tells time!” So Ralph rises from contentment to wild exuberance!

This world will not allow the believer contentment! – We are citizens of heaven. This world is not our final home and is like a cheap motel compared to the mansions in heaven. The accommodations are adequate at best. But we are content.

John 16:33

33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

We battle greed and the deceit of consumption by being content! – Of the sixteen times the word “content” is used in scripture, several times the word is used to urge us to be satisfied with our wages.

Luke 3:14

14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he [Jesus] said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. (The occupying soldiers were extorting money from the people.)

Phil 4:18

18 [Paul said] But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.

           So here we sit, like Ralphie on Christmas evening, surrounded by presents and wrapping paper. We are warm, although a beautiful light snow falls gently outside our windows whispering a hush to the world. We are “content” although the desire of our heart has not been met. Then suddenly a trumpet blast shakes us from our daydream and we are invited to “come up here.” Contentment explodes into wild exuberance. Oh! Think about it!

 1 Thess 4:16-18

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Dear Lord, I look around at all my blessings and I am content but there is a deep longing in my heart unsatisfied. Let me live expectantly waiting on you and waiting for you! AMEN

NO PROGRESS WITHOUT CHANGE -- NO CHANGE WITHOUT RISK

NO PROGRESS WITHOUT CHANGE – NO CHANGE WITHOUT RISK!

The situation was unimaginable! The city was under siege and no food or supplies could reach them. Mothers were boiling their children for food [2 Kings 6:28, 29] and other unthinkable things were being eaten. The city would die if there was no change. Elijah then prophesied that there would soon be plenty.

2 Kings 7:1-2

7:1 Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.

2 Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

Some stories, especially in the Old Testament, take time to play out but it is worth our while to read to the end the following portion.

2 Kings 7:3-9

3 And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?

4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.

5 And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.

6 For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.

7 Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.

8 And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.

9 Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.

Several spiritually significant points can easily be made here, so we will.

The Four had a death-dealing disease!  There was no known cure for leprosy in those days and death was slow but certain. Sin is like that. Its progress may be slow but, as the Bible says, “the ends thereof are the ways of death.”

They sat at the entering in of the gate! There are several ways we may look at this gate. If we see it as the entrance to the old legal system we conclude, as they did, that the famine is there and death would be the result for “by the law shall no flesh be justified.” [Galatians 2:16] We may also see the gate as the key or opening to the future. The gate may represent salvation. They did not yet have it but they were close.

They weighed their options! If they remained in their current situation they would certainly die. If they went into the city they would certainly die. They would either be killed because they were lepers or they would simply join the huge population of “the dying.” But if they went unto the camp of the Syrians they MIGHT live. They might be able to beg bread for another day or two of life. If the Syrians killed them it would only be a swifter means of death.

They made a decision! It is hard to rise from the relative comfort of slow death to chance the prospect of a quicker one and the only reason to make such a decision is hope. [2 Kings 7:4] They would approach the enemy with beggars’ hands and hope for the best.

They were wonderfully provided for! Taking a risk is another way of saying that they exercised FAITH. God always responds favorably to faith for without faith it is impossible to please Him. [Hebrews 11:6] They found the camp empty of men and full of rich supplies. When we risk coming to Jesus we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

They thought of others! Reclining after a Thanksgiving-like feast they suddenly thought of others less fortunate. They suddenly felt an obligation to a city that had forced them out. This is the missionary urgings of a grateful people. How can we sit full and satisfied by the abundant mercy of God when a whole city is perishing with spiritual hunger? This is how common people, wonderfully blessed, become evangelists and missionaries.

2 Kings 7:9

9 Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.

Church! If we keep doing what we are doing we will continue to get what we already have. There is no progress without change and there is no change without risk. Today is a day of good tidings! Go tell!

Dear Lord, I am afraid to take a risk but I know that is the only way to make progress. Give me courage to risk change. I have been blessed.  Help me to tell others. AMEN

THESE TANTRUM TIMES

THESE TANTRUM TIMES!

2 Tim 3:1-2

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves…

           Have you ever witnessed a child throwing a tantrum in a grocery store? Mother has brought him or her along to buy necessities and the child sees only toys and candy. Peace is possible only when every whim is immediately satisfied. Throwing themselves to the floor they begin to kick and scream because of the insufferable injustice they feel. As a witness, you want to intervene with swift and thorough retribution. Perhaps this is how God feels when we act like spoiled children. Many are “gonna get it when we get home!”

           In second Peter chapter two, Peter refers to those who enjoy rioting. He says they have “eyes full of idolatry” and they cannot cease from sin. They beguile unstable souls. Their hearts are well trained to sin and their mouths are full of cursing. This reads like the morning news!

           God invites us to “reason together” (Isaiah 1:18) and promises us rewards for reasonable thinking and wise action.

Isa 1:18

18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Dear Lord, let not my requests become demands. Let me approach you with the clear understanding of who you are and who I am not. AMEN