Faith and Contentment

 


Everlasting faith is the belief Jesus always has you in His hands. Whether it be in good times or bad, faith is knowing He is merely a thought away.

There is contentment in this realization. No matter the trial or temptation, no matter the success or victory, Jesus is there to anchor us through the highs and the lows of our life. For He never changes and is our lighthouse wherever we are in our life.

You may ask, “Why do we need Jesus as an anchor when things are going well? Is not that a good thing and a blessing from God?”

It does seem a bit counter-intuitive to think we need God as an anchor when things are going well. The answer is to remember that we are irrational, illogical, emotional and (basically) depraved beings who tend towards evil rather than good. Like sheep, we wander away from where we are supposed to be. That is why one of the parables of Jesus is about Him going after the one sheep out of 100 who did not stay with the rest (Luke 15:3-7)

In the Sayings of Agur (Proverbs 30), there is this poignant thought:

O God, I beg two favors from you;

    let me have them before I die.

First, help me never to tell a lie.

    Second, give me neither poverty nor riches!

    Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.

For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”

    And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name. (Proverbs 30:7-9)

We have to consistently overcome our tendency to forget God. The Apostle John records Jesus talking about the benefits of overcoming seven different ways to each of the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Sometimes it is an exhortation to continue doing well (Smyrna and Philadelphia) but most times it is to stop doing bad things and focus on what is good. Either way, Jesus wants their faith, and ours, to overcome the pitfalls of both adversity and success by focusing on Him.

It is the act of anchoring our faith in Jesus which keeps us from the self-righteousness that often comes from our successes or the depression that can come from our trials. This anchoring builds contentment which is a beautiful gift from God. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:6

Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.

 


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