Regina 
Are you content? I browse the aisles of my favorite little spots, put pen to paper sketching out our plans, and some of these plans include things to make or buy… which just led me to ask the question… Are you content? Deep down, in the secret places.
What we pursue the hardest is what we want the most, and I do not want anything warring with my affections for Jesus.
So, how do I live in this world, dearly loving decorating, cooking, and making things pretty and not let that steal an ounce of my adoration for Christ? Will my love for the one rob my love for the ONE? I wrestle with it, because I must put sin to death. So must you. Greed is native to this soil, this land we live in and to this heart that lives in me apart the renewing work of Christ.
Nothing is better to me than Jesus. I want my everything to be Him. So, if I get what it is I think I want fine and if I don’t let that be sincerely fine too my Lord, because all that I need is bound up in Him not painting another room or buying another thing (warm smile). And maybe this reminder is just for me, but I have a feeling I am speaking to all of us. We do not make purchases apart from Jesus… that is where the greed that amounts to idolatry begins. We stop letting God into what we are doing. We stop asking Him what He thinks.
Just because it fits in the budget, doesn’t necessarily mean it is good for our souls.
I snapped a pretty picture of this tray, and I didn’t get it. Not because I couldn’t, but because it wasn’t needful for me. I didn’t get the sense I needed to buy that. And $20 on a tray isn’t a thing to us. That would be the case for most reading, but $20 for most of the world is a big thing. Can I keep buying excess when what I have is enough? Is what I have enough, or do I constantly say, “Well, when I get _____ , then that will be enough….” And when is that ever done? When do we ever arrive at contentment if we play the consumerism game too often? I am not seeking to answer the question for you, I am just asking it, because we need to ask it. Aren’t we clever and schemers to get what it is that we want? Well, what if we wisely schemed for the Kingdom of God like that? What if what we wanted most of all, by dollars spent, was for the lost to be reached and the hungry to be fed? More than a tithe, an offering. Storing up treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, where thieves don’t break in and steal. Are we rich toward God or something else?
In our lives, if the driving force is Jesus then He directs all of our paths and all of our loves and affections. All we do should be out of love for Him. We can decorate out of a love for our God. After all, He was the first designer, was He not…?
By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
Proverbs 24:4
The Lord is for beauty. He is the perfection of beauty shining forth from Heaven. The Lord has given a tongue to teach His Word, a voice to sing, hands to create beautiful things…. I glorify Him when I do these things, but I can misuse His gifts to serve my own ends. Can’t we all do that? We must let Him purify and refine those loves so that fit His purposes in the earth. We must learn that this is true….
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5
I think this might be how Paul learned to live content whether well-fed or hungry, in plenty or in want… I think He knew the preeminent value of the presence and power of God. Our deepest place of blessing resides in living within the will of God. Whatever situation He places us in then, we have Him, and He is the foremost ONE that we want.
Our lives are as compartmentalized as we might try to make them. When we buy or paint or give or save or whatever it is we do with our money OUT OF LOVE FOR JESUS we are doing what God desires, but when we tithe and do whatever we want with the rest of our resources we might be in danger. Let God in on everything. That’s all I’m saying, let Him in. Are you content? The Greek New Testament literally defines contentment as “having enough” “being satisfied” but a definition that surprised me was “sufficient.” Is what Jesus gives sufficient? Contentment says yes.
By the way, we have some DIY projects underway and we will buy a few things this weekend to accomplish our plans. Buying something doesn’t mean you are not content any more than not buying means you’re content. The measure of contentment is found in the heart…. It is out of the heart that everything else comes. If we keep surrendering our hearts to Jesus who saved us from horrible death and brought us into His stunning light, He will keep our lives in a way that honors Him whatever we do.
