Do you count GOD a
cruel master? We are much too pious to come right out and say
it; but we order our lives as if we do. HE redeems us from
the very slave block of sin, adopts us as HIS own, gives us
life, liberty and the real pursuit of happiness, even wagering
HIS OWN honor to provide
for us. In return we frequently doubt HIS love, question
HIS direction, and grieve HIS SPIRIT ... are we insane?
Rather than seriously muse, we regularly amuse GOD'S dealing
regarding saints
who've gone on before us; and thus commit contempt in the face of content!
This incest of personal dissatisfaction continues to breed
on itself, spawning more and more discontent; all the while,
blindly blaming all of life's woes on the GIVER of it, to WHOM
you've forsaken.
Of particular note
here, is Paul's statement that contentment is a learned trait of
the Christian. Class opens
each day with the core curriculum of Scripture to face the
challenges of "whatsoever state"
GOD has placed us in. The classroom is of HIS choosing,
the contentment within the classroom is ours to choose.
Left to ourselves, would we not lounge in opulence and shun squalor?
GOD, however, must be the 'Engineer of State', if we are to attain
graduate level contentment. Any self serving prig can be
content when they abound, genuine litmus however, is best
achieved during the abased phase of training. Paul was of
use to the LORD, like few others throughout history, because he
had: "learned ... I know both how to be
abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things
I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need."
In schooling his young
pastor friend in this grace, Paul writes to Timothy:
"But godliness with contentment is
great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it
is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and
raiment let us be therewith content."
Can you count yourself
as the alumni of the Institute of Contentment? Oh, the
number of our ranks who ditch these critical classes, and prove
themselves spiritual
dropouts! GOD give us faith to stay in school and
discover, like Paul, that we too:
"... can do all things through CHRIST which strengtheneth ..."
"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."