2008 - Content but not Satisfied
This place is so dead but I'm insanely bored of marking so here goes.... A New Year Post =)
There are so many thoughts going round my head at the moment... the beginning of a new year as I'm still finding out what God's got in store for me here in Hong Kong. For the last two years I've been thinking that once I got to Hong Kong I would KNOW what I was supposed to be doing... that everything would just fall into place.... but that hasn't happened and I'm left with just as many questions .... and God has opened my eyes up to so much in these few years that I just can't ignore. So I start this year wanting to be content but not satisfied.
Being content... something that I though a lot about in the years after Hong Kong. Something that we're commanded to be in the Bible.... with our circumstances, with our possessions.... but so against the culture of materialism etc that we live in.
Back in 2005 (sounds so long ago now!) I was convicted that I really needed to be content with where God had placed me despite the fact that Birmingham was the last place on earth I wanted to be going... and with much prayer and struggle I got there, helped along by the amazing people I met there. But just as I was becoming content I began to think things like 'if I'm content with this then maybe God will keep me as a single girl stuck in England for ever and ever' and then I became, for a while at least, less of a fan of contentment. And in any case it's a very dull word... definitely not going to make my top 10!
But I've come to realise those thoughts are miles out of the ball park and definitely not Godly thoughts... in fact more the opposite. But why the attack against contentment? This got me thinking ... maybe there's something more to contentment... maybe God wants us to be content for a reason. I'd never really understood why God seemed so hung up on contentment - but hey as he was God he got to be a bit 'strange' and we got to deal with it.
Some answers to my ponderances were found in Paul's letter to the Phillipians ...Phillipians 4: 11-13 "...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I 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. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
- Paul's contentment in need didn't stop the plenty and vice versa.
- There is a 'secret' to being content suggesting it's not easy *phew* I'm not the only one who thinks it's hard.
- The secret is the holy spirit... so surprising to find the I can do everything verse attached to talk about contentment had never twigged that before.
And the purpose of contentment? to me it means that we're focused on what God is doing where we are, not somewhere else, freeing us to be 'dangerous' for God where we are. Now that's quite cool... and so I'm back into contentment (despite the fact it's still quite a boring word)
But even though I'm content... well trying to be anyway... I am not satisfied. When I look around me I'm not satisfied with so much. I'm not satisfied at the way I treat people ... I'm not satisfied when I see all the hurting people both round me and on the news, I'm not satisfied when I think about how I use my time, I'm not satisfied when I think about my relationship with God, I'm not satisfied when I see myself and often the church so disconnected from other people... the poor, hurting, non-Christians... the list could go on and on. I AM NOT SATISFIED!
I don't want it to end there though I want to do something about these things... still trying to work out what exactly but I just need to start I guess.
And so this year this is my aim. To be content so that I can be dangerous for God right here and to not be satisfied with what I see and to start to do something about these things. Sounds like a huge exciting challenge to me =)
There are so many thoughts going round my head at the moment... the beginning of a new year as I'm still finding out what God's got in store for me here in Hong Kong. For the last two years I've been thinking that once I got to Hong Kong I would KNOW what I was supposed to be doing... that everything would just fall into place.... but that hasn't happened and I'm left with just as many questions .... and God has opened my eyes up to so much in these few years that I just can't ignore. So I start this year wanting to be content but not satisfied.
Being content... something that I though a lot about in the years after Hong Kong. Something that we're commanded to be in the Bible.... with our circumstances, with our possessions.... but so against the culture of materialism etc that we live in.
Back in 2005 (sounds so long ago now!) I was convicted that I really needed to be content with where God had placed me despite the fact that Birmingham was the last place on earth I wanted to be going... and with much prayer and struggle I got there, helped along by the amazing people I met there. But just as I was becoming content I began to think things like 'if I'm content with this then maybe God will keep me as a single girl stuck in England for ever and ever' and then I became, for a while at least, less of a fan of contentment. And in any case it's a very dull word... definitely not going to make my top 10!
But I've come to realise those thoughts are miles out of the ball park and definitely not Godly thoughts... in fact more the opposite. But why the attack against contentment? This got me thinking ... maybe there's something more to contentment... maybe God wants us to be content for a reason. I'd never really understood why God seemed so hung up on contentment - but hey as he was God he got to be a bit 'strange' and we got to deal with it.
Some answers to my ponderances were found in Paul's letter to the Phillipians ...Phillipians 4: 11-13 "...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I 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. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
- Paul's contentment in need didn't stop the plenty and vice versa.
- There is a 'secret' to being content suggesting it's not easy *phew* I'm not the only one who thinks it's hard.
- The secret is the holy spirit... so surprising to find the I can do everything verse attached to talk about contentment had never twigged that before.
And the purpose of contentment? to me it means that we're focused on what God is doing where we are, not somewhere else, freeing us to be 'dangerous' for God where we are. Now that's quite cool... and so I'm back into contentment (despite the fact it's still quite a boring word)
But even though I'm content... well trying to be anyway... I am not satisfied. When I look around me I'm not satisfied with so much. I'm not satisfied at the way I treat people ... I'm not satisfied when I see all the hurting people both round me and on the news, I'm not satisfied when I think about how I use my time, I'm not satisfied when I think about my relationship with God, I'm not satisfied when I see myself and often the church so disconnected from other people... the poor, hurting, non-Christians... the list could go on and on. I AM NOT SATISFIED!
I don't want it to end there though I want to do something about these things... still trying to work out what exactly but I just need to start I guess.
And so this year this is my aim. To be content so that I can be dangerous for God right here and to not be satisfied with what I see and to start to do something about these things. Sounds like a huge exciting challenge to me =)
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