Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Content with today

By nature, I'm a go-getter. If I want something, I try not to rely on other people to get what I want. I set goals and I reach them. I am constantly wanting to change, grow, experience, and risk. I am totally future-oriented.

And although this may be a great character trait to have as a student or as a working professional, in my personal life, it is something that often backfires. Always looking into the future means I am consistently bombarded with worry and uncertainty.

It is difficult to be content with today when I'm always looking into tomorrow.

Here are some verses from the Word that have been helping me realign my thinking and find contentment in Christ alone:

"So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." -Matthew 6:31-34

"But godliness with contentment is great gain." -1 Timothy 6:6

"You will start to become much more content with whatever state you may be currently in as you realize that your happiness and state of well-being is founded and rooted in your personal relationship with God and Jesus – not with the material possessions you already have in your life." - Quote from Bible-knowledge.com

Friday, September 2, 2011

A Slice of Pie

Often we try to divide our life into pie slices. We allot a slice for work, a slice for family, a slice for recreation, and whatever sliver is left over gets allotted to God.

Sometimes when life gets too overwhelming and we feel burnt-out, we make a pact with ourselves to eliminate one slice of our pie. As a student, I heard people always say that now that the semester started, they’re not going to have a social life. Essentially they’re saying, "I'm cutting that slice out of my pie."

Or let’s narrow it down to one day. We spend 8 hours of our day working, 2 hours in traffic, about 2 hours eating, a few hours watching TV or hanging out with friends and then at the end of the day, we spend maybe less than 10 minutes reading the Bible and praying. If you look at it this way, our daily “pie” is not very proportionally sliced.

So what’s the solution? Should we stop working and just sit at home reading our Bibles all day? Not at all.

Instead of devoting a slice of your life to God, we must allow Him to be the filling in our pie. He needs to be present in every slice!

So when you’re at work, He’s there with you. When you’re with your friends, He’s present. When you’re driving, He’s there too.

Instead of limiting God to just one slice, allow him to be the Goodness that fills your pie.