Devotions By Jan

Category Archives: Contentment


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Gaining Weight

Scripture for Today: I Timothy 6:6-7 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.”

Weight gain is usually a negative thought except when it concerns a new baby.  The baby’s check-ups nearly always includes a weighing in, often on cold hard metal, without a diaper and amid much protest.  How much and how quickly a newborn gains weight is carefully monitored.  The growth charts are regularly checked to verify that the gains are within the norm.  Often, being in the ninetieth percentile for weight is a point of understandable pride for the mother.

Today’s verse talks about “great gain.”  In our world, a great gain would be a reference either to financial gain or perhaps a gain of physical strength.  But this great gain is described as godliness with contentment.  Any other kind of gain is left behind.  We can bring nothing into this world nor can we take anything out of it.  Godliness with contentment is a gain that changes how we live and lasts into eternity!

Contentment is learned (Phil. 4:11-12).  Godliness too is something for which we train ourselves (I Timothy 4:7-8).  It is a process and I have a long way to go.  But the effort is worth it as “godliness has value for all things” (verse 8).  To be both content and godly at the same time is of tremendous worth, adding a whole other dimension to my life. Unfortunately, my envy and discontent distract me.  My tendency to compromise or rationalize a less-than-godly activity keeps me from progressing.  I often feel it is “one step forward, two steps back.”  The rare times when both contentment and godliness are present in my day make it a very good one!

Lord, make this day a day of great gain!

Look familiar?  This is a repost due to summer ministry.


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Something’s Missing!

Scripture for Today: Ecclesiastes 1:8 “All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.”

This bizarre bronze statue was created by Bruno Catalano and can be seen in Marseilles, France.  The artist, having been a sailor for twenty years, created his idea of a world citizen.  Every time he personally left a place, he felt he left pieces of himself behind.  Perhaps most everyone can relate as, “Everyone has missing pieces in his life that he won’t find again.”  This is a much more artistic way of expressing the lyrics of, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco!”

Today’s verse is something a world traveler may eventually feel.  In the beginning of exploring our world, there is much to see, hear and experience.  King Solomon had all the resources needed to experience life to the fullest.  Every desire to see and hear was fulfilled.  And yet those experiences did not fulfill him.  The desire to see more is always there.  The longing to hear more is never satisfied.  There is something missing.  The search for something new exotic and different becomes wearisome.  It does not fulfill something deep within.  There is still an emptiness.

I suppose one could call me a world traveler after having visited close to twenty-five countries.  I am privileged to have seen and heard a lot!  I know a number of people who are “minimalists” decrying the accumulation of things and instead filling their lives with seeing and hearing experiences.  But eventually it all becomes wearisome without that relationship with the Creator.  He is the One who fulfills my life, filling in all the empty places.

Thank you Lord that Your love and presence is more satisfying than anything I can see or hear!

Look familiar?  This is a repost due to summer ministry.


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Locked Antlers

Scripture for Today: James 4:1 “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”

The bull moose antlers are impressive with a spread of up to 6 feet!  They can weigh as much as 40 pounds.  Each year they are shed and grown anew until old age.  Their size shows their status and strength, especially during mating season.  They are made of bone and are one single structure.  Two bull moose with similar sized antlers will face off and lock antlers over a female.  It is really sad when two moose get their antlers so entangled that they are unable to free themselves and they die!

Today’s verse was addressed to believers in the church.  These early Christians struggled with the very same thing we do today.  Desires battling within eventually show themselves in tensions and quarrels without.  The desires mentioned here are probably the result of “friendship with the world” (verse 4).  They desired what they did not have.  Praying for their desires would not have resolved the situation.  That is because they were asking with wrong motives and would spend what they received on themselves (verses 2-3).  There is only one solution and that is for our desires to change.

Most of my desires would probably fall into this same category.  I wish I could say differently.  The pull of the world is strong and so is envying what others have.  In my heart of hearts I know that possessions do not bring me true joy but it sure is easy to be distracted!  And when my selfish desires get in the way of a relationship I know it has gone too far.  I want those secret desires in my heart to be God-honoring and to be centered on Him.

Lord, help me to keep my desires in check.

 


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Mother’s Day

Scripture for Today:  Luke 11:27-28   While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.”  But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and observe it.”

This is a special Mother’s Day for me as it is the first one without my Mom.  I cannot complain as having died at 95 we have had many wonderful years together.  Not everyone can say that their relationship with their Mother was or is so positive.  There are those who are reminded only of pain each Mother’s Day.  I realize that I am so very blessed, which makes her absence that much more bittersweet.

God’s Word exalts and honors motherhood.  However, in today’s verse, Jesus calls something even more blessed than being a mother.  Someone in the crowd of listeners spoke a blessing on the mother of Jesus.  And in doing so, the speaker was also blessing Jesus.  But Jesus responded with something that was a bigger blessing that everyone can experience; hearing and obeying God’s Word.

I tend to look at my roles as wife and mother as the most exalted and fulfilling roles I could possibly have on this earth.  Certainly, I do not want to take anything away from this.  But the relationship I have with the Lord is always the most intimate one possible.  My role as a follower of Christ far outweighs my role as anything else.  My relationship with Him never disappoints.  It is deeper, more faithful and more satisfying than any human relationship.  He fills in all the emotional holes in my heart when losing one so dear.

Thank you Lord, for the blessing of knowing You.


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Bless You!

Scripture for Today: Ephesians 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” 

Our cat, Tiger, would sometimes have a sneezing fit and would always look very surprised when it happened.  I never felt obligated to say the words, “bless you.”  After all, I figured it was usually the cat making everyone else sneeze.  There are many ideas on the origins of blessing people after a sneeze.  Some believed the sneeze had to do with evil spirits leaving the body.  Others felt it was the soul momentarily escaping the body.  My favorite is the belief that the heart temporarily stopped during a sneeze!

Today’s verse declares that the source of every spiritual blessing is Jesus Christ.  He has blessed every believer with unmerited favor and goodness.  The blessings He gives are not tangible but spiritual.  And because that is true, these blessings are eternal.  They include His choosing us, adopting us, redeeming us and forgiving us (verses 4-7).  He has blessed us by sealing us with His Holy Spirit and has promised us an inheritance (verse 13-14).  These blessings are not seen with our physical eyes but they are more real than things that are!

I need to be reminded of His blessings, especially when I see non-believers seemingly prosper around me.  Like David, I can feel discouraged and tempted to be envious (Psalm 37:1-2).  But their success is temporary and my inheritance is eternal!  Spiritual blessings are the ones that matter.  And the blessing of being His very own outweighs anything else.  I can live this life with faith and love because they spring from the hope stored up for me in Heaven! (Col. 1:5)  How blessed I am!

Lord, open the eyes of my heart to see Your blessings today..