learning to be content

Matt 5:5 "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought." (the Message)

I have been reading a lot of the Message recently, and I have really been enjoying a fresh perspective on familiar passages. I have finally reached the Sermon on the Mount, and the Message does an incredible job of making it applicable to today. Verse 5 penetrated my heart, and has been with me for over a week now. I keep coming back to it, knowing that God is speaking to me through it in a powerful way. He says you are "blessed", meaning happy or fortunate in the Greek. Usually those two do go hand in hand. I personally love the translation "happy." There is so much truth here... "You're blessed (or happy) when you're content with just who you are- no more, no less." You know, working with teenagers I see this all the time, the students who are totally content with who they are, they are the happiest. I can also speak from personal experience, I find great joy in being myself, uniquely made by God, but that wasn't always the case. For years I struggled with being content, and it wasn't till I found myself living in a mud hut in Africa with nothing but a few pair of clothes and my Bible, that I began to become content with who it was that God created me to be. I think its true that most people struggle with being "content". This is probably because to be content we have to be satisfied. That's something Americans struggle with. We live in a world of constant change. Everything around us is changing. We crave for it. We want the newest stuff, and I believe that hunger for something bigger and better often grows in our hearts for ourselves. We think if we can just have a little more money or a little more popularity we would become happy, but as we have seen happiness has nothing to do with this. True happiness, the Abundant Life that Jesus promises us, is the most joyful life possible for us. And Jesus says, you want to be happy, be satisfied with who I created you to be. Don't try to be someone you are not.

I love the second part of the verse..."That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought." It's humbling to think of how good God is to me. It's really humbling, because, if I see myself as God does, I don't deserve it. I don't deserve a wife that loves me like my Joy does. I don't deserve two incredible boys that think the world of me. These are things that can not be bought and God says, "they are yours, enjoy them!" I also can't help but think of the greatest gift of all, salvation. It also can't be bought, it's a gift, and so Jesus is saying you will never truly appreciate the gift you have been given, until you stop craving everything of the world, and be content in who you are in Christ. And who are we in Christ? Who are we who have accepted Christ as Lord of our lives?


John 1:12 We are God's children.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 We have been bought with a price and belong to God.
1 Corinthians 12:27 We are members of Christ's body.
Ephesians 1:3-8 We have been chosen by God and adopted as His children.
Colossians 1:13-14 We have been redeemed and forgiven of all our sins.
Colossians 2:9-10 We am complete in Christ.
Hebrews 4:14-16 We have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:1-2 We are free from condemnation.
Romans 8:28 We are assured that God works for our good in all circumstances. Romans 8:31-39 We are free from any condemnation brought against us and we cannot be separated from the love of God.
Philippians 3:20 We are citizens of heaven.
1 Corinthians 3:16 We are God's temple.
2 Corinthians 5:17 We are ministers of reconciliation for God.
Ephesians 2:10 We are God's workmanship.

And the Bible says so much more!! Why should we ever crave anything else? We have all we need in him, including the greatest joy anyone could possible experience.