We Find Contentment in God Alone

If I look and judge something now, I will come away believing that what I have now is not what I had once, and I will be resentful. But this is false; I apply something evil, me, to judge this moment the way I want to see it. I go first.

If I look and am content, not trying to seek any good for myself, I am no longer in control, but another power is at work in my soul. One far greater, far more vast than what I alone can understand, one that far exceeds all human comprehension. All that we love is only a window into this power beyond understanding, which we only know as we live by faith. This power is the presence of God, and this presence is known to us by how it clears our hearts of all confusion and doubt. When we take the wheel, and worry about every detail – and find ourselves all the more flustered – there is confusion. It is as if we have no understanding where up is up and where down is down. But as soon as we turn to Jesus, and trust Him to handle all the going-ons going on around us, then there is peace. He is in control, and no one nor any advice of the world can imitate the peace that God alone gives.

How much the world is in urgent need of even experiencing one breath of this peace! God is calling all people to himself, calling everyone to experience him; but first we must be willing to listen. But most of the world does not do so much as look.

God reveals himself to us as we draw near to him in faith. No memory or good thing was ever meant for this earth, or to make us wish more for ourselves; they are like the dots of the road leading us on the map to Heaven, which we treasure only as much as we love God. They are not stations or pit stops; they are pointers to draw our hearts to what truly matters – God.

Whatever comes before us, and whatever lies ahead of us, is not relevant to the present. God has already given us everything we already need. There is peace as we detach ourselves from this world, scorning any of its affections and instead choosing God, who is infinite, whom we encounter only in the moment of our existence. He is not the meal we have later today, he is not the movie we watched ten years ago we would really like to see, he is not the video game we hope to play this afternoon, nor is he an awesome game of soccer. Though we can experience him in these things, these things are not in themselves good, but only good however much God makes them good.

God is always new, always here, always calling us deeper into himself. The way we know God, and draw nearer to God, is by no longer seeking what we want, but instead being still. As we focus not on ourselves but on God, there God reveals what is already present there on our hearts, but which we were too distracted to see. His will is always with us, and we know his will as we seek him first above all things. There is never any doubt; doubt is only the door out! We always know we serve the Lord, because his spirit of truth abides in our hearts, and we bear fruits of his will:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23)

Without God's presence abiding in our hearts, we will never be happy, no matter how much we think we have. And with his presence, we could be in the middle of the sea, bobbing on a raft, and somehow be perfectly content – at peace no matter what may lie ahead of us or what may happen to us. We have Jesus, and He is enough.

God is good, to be in God is to be alive in Him; to forget God is to live a life of habit that begins to take on self, that we no longer live for God or for the good, but are caught up in ourselves, not even realizing that we are living in ourselves. In this moment, to again experience God, might meet one like King Arthur, when he said in Excalibur 1984: "I did not know how empty was my soul, until it was filled." This candle, this love, is impossible for man to take for himself, and it is obvious whenever it present, and when it is not. We are called, as human beings who stumble and err in many ways, to hold onto our faith and continue in faith. No matter how high the waves rise against us, as we walk in step with the Holy Spirit, we will enter into this joy, this love, this real nature of the world around us; and this because we love, our hearts alive in the Spirit of God.

Is our love for yesterday, to wish we were there, or for tomorrow, as we boldly go into the future? Thus we should go, with all of our hearts drawing near to God as he draws near to us, into his love, and like children rejoice whenever the Lord meets us. In any of the fields of our lives where he chooses to visit, let us jump and leap and love the Lord who meets us! We are called to be children, always joyful in the day ahead of us, knowing in our hearts that all of our joy is only a promise, a promise of a life to come in an eternal Kingdom in Heaven.

We are being prepared to someday enter into a life that knows no equal or like – a life in Christ, who is calling all of us, right now, to turn from our sin and follow him! If we want to know what this kingdom is and how to get there, then all we need to do is open our hearts to Scripture, and open our eyes to the world around us, and see that Jerusalem is already everywhere that we look! We were only too caught up in our own worries to notice, that there is beauty singing from every surface! God is always there to a heart that is open to him, and he is always calling us to share in this wonderful hope! There is no other love but this, that of Jesus as he draws all people back to himself. (John 12:32)