How Content Am I?

This month I've gone with an app on my Droid that gives me a Bible verse a day, and then do an impromptu devotion.

The verse that came up today is Hebrews 13:5.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

I also looked this verse up on the website BibleGateway.com.  Here is it's version.  

Let your manner of living be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have. For He hath said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee"; 21st Century King James Version.

The first version is easier to understand.  It's pretty straightforward.  I have tried to live my life being content with what I have.  I have a nice house, a great family, a job, clothes, food, etc.  I don't need the latest and greatest of things.  Lately we have been going to too many first run movies.  I also confess that I have been buying books more than borrowing them from the library.  But being content with "things" is just part of it.  Are you content with who you are?  Are you happy with everything in your life?

If I would say yes, I would be lying.  There are things in every aspect of my life that I am not content with.  I am not content with my looks, my thoughts, my attitude at times.  I try to be helpful, but end up making others upset.  I try to be content and most of the time I succeed.  But there are times that no matter how I try, I am not content.  I am not trying to change others, but am I trying to change myself? If I am truly content with what I have, then should I feel happy?

Happiness and contentment does not go hand in hand.  Being content means to be satisfied.  Some people are never satisfied.  They have to go, go, go.  Some people need the biggest and best.  Some need the newest and most improved.  In this society, we are advertised to get the newest, brightest and most improved items.  But if you have something that already works, then why do you need the newest or the most expensive?  Status?  What is that going to get you in heaven?  Do you really care what your neighbor thinks of your new "toy"?

No matter what your status here on earth, God is the judge to please.  And he promised to "never leave or forsake you." That is the thing I am most content with. 

Youthful Contentment

This week, our family have had a few firsts. Especially with Allie. Nothing dramatic, nothing major, well, yeah I guess the first one is major in all our lives. Tomorrow, I am going to take Allie to get her temporary license to drive! Uh, maybe it will snow and I can postpone this? No? Well this is a right of passage, isn't it? The other first is one that both Allie and Timm are interested and dreaming of. Allie brought home from school a packet for a class ring. Did you get a class ring? I did. It cost me $186. I remember that because I wanted a gold one and my parents would only pay half of it. I had to come up with the other half. Which brings me to my next question. Doesn't that mean i was older and had a job? I still have that beautiful ring. I can even still wear it. The prices are ridiculous for rings now days, but the settings, engravings and effects are pretty awesome!

The kids were dreaming, I mean, looking at the packet this morning, saying, "I am going to get this stone, and my friend and I want to have our nicknames engraved on the inside." Okay, but who really wants the nickname Stinky forever engraved on something? For clarification, that is Allie's friend's nickname, not Allie's. Her nickname is Dingy, if you didn't know. That's for another time.

So what does all this have to do with a devotion? I honestly am not sure. Maybe it's just a day to ramble for me. I keep thinking of the plans that Allie and Timm are laying out for their futures. The hopes and dreams that make us keep going when there is sadness around us. Maybe this devotion is to show that the youth still have the same dreams that we all had when we were teenagers. A lot of things have not changed in 50+ years. Kids still dream of driving, class rings, graduation, college, getting married...not all that different from when you were there.

Last weekend we saw the movie The Tooth Fairy, starring Dewayne Johnson and Julie Andrews. It told the story of the man who let reality hit him hard and wipe all his hopes and dreams away. He made sure all the people around him (especially kids) know that you can not aim high because there is always someone bigger and better to knock you down. Sad, isn't it? The moral of that story is that it doesn't matter what the other guy does, dream for yourself and be content with where you are and what you have.

Proverbs 13:25 The righteous eat to their hearts' content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry.

Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.

Philippians 4:11-13 ¹¹I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹²I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³I can do everything through him who gives me strength.