The subject of today’s blog is a very significant one for me personally. It will make you think, review your life, self-examine, and hopefully cause you to make some new decisions as to what you are using your one and only life for as relates to serving other people. You were given your life as a free and unencumbered gift by a loving Father God….no strings attached. You were also given a free will of choice as to what you would eventually wind up doing with your free gift. That entire process is an indication of just how much God did and does love you.
As an American you have been further blessed by being placed in the freest of all nations on the earth. You are truly a free person. Your gifts have really blessed your life, haven’t they? Have you bothered or taken the time out of your busy life to truly thank God for all that He has done for you?
So many people today all over the globe are extremely discontent, particularly Americans. They are unhappy, perplexed, and even suffer from great vexation at their personal state of affairs. All the while these same people are alive, they can be productive, they have the right to become successful, to marry, to have a fine family and to earn as much as they are willing to work for, and yet they remain angry, upset, and ungrateful. What is going on with them? Someone needs to get a grip on life. Some of them need to get a proper perspective on all that is right in their life. The malcontents need to develop a grateful heart for all that they do have. And finally these unhappy folks need to become thankful for all the blessings that have been given or provided to them. Oh the joy of being a free person in a free country with a free will of choice.
God tells us in The Bible where all good gifts come from. In The Book of James, Chapter 1, verses 16-18, NKJV It says:
(16) “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
(17) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
(18) Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures.”
I for one am very grateful and thankful that I am an American, and I am a free man privileged to live in a free country because somewhere along the historical lines, someone was freely willing to shed their blood, to sacrifice their life, so that I could enjoy my free life and free lifestyle within the boundaries of my own country. Thank you seems so lame, so weak. It greatly humbles me whenever I think about all those men and women who sacrificed their last full measure of life so that I could be free. How much more do you personally expect be given to you so as to enable you to live contently?
Noah Webster in his 1828 Dictionary of the English Language defined the word Content as:
1. To satisfy the mind of; to make quiet, so as to stop complaint or opposition; to appease; to make easy in any situation.
2. To please or gratify; to delight.
3. Rest or quietness of the mind in one’s present condition; satisfaction; moderate happiness.
Please allow me to share with you a story about a professional tennis player that truly defines godly contentment as it was intended to be defined to all mankind.
At age 14, Andrea Jaeger won her first professional tennis tournament. At 18, she reached the finals at Wimbledon. At 19, a bad shoulder all but ended her career. Many a world class athlete may have become bitter or discontented with life at that point. Jaeger, however, turned her competitive spirit to a new endeavor, a nonprofit organization called Kid’s Stuff Foundation that attempts to bring joy to children suffering from cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Her work there has also inspired her to take correspondence studies in nursing and child psychology.
Jaeger not only created the program, but runs it full-time, year-round, unpaid. “I’m inspired by these brave kids, and humbled,” she has said. “They lose their health, their friends, and sometimes their lives. And yet their spirit never wavers. They look at life as a gift. The rest of us sometimes look at ourselves as a gift to life.”
“You get very spoiled on the tour,” she adds with a twinkle in her eye. “The courtesy cars, the five-star hotels, the thousands of people clapping for you when you hit a good shot. It’s easy to forget what’s important in life….I forget it a lot less lately.”
Over the course of the last year and one half in my life, and because of the painful events that have occurred, I have gained a much different and greater understanding of what is truly important at least to me and to my family. I had drifted so very far off course with my value system and with my personal associations. I have spent many, many hours asking God for forgiveness and repenting of my wandering ways in an attempt to get my life back on the correct purpose and course.
God is very specific what He demands of me and of everyone else. I want only to do what He wants me to do. I want only to be obedient to the call He has placed on my heart. Trust me when I tell you that I am truly living my life today on purpose!
God wants all of His children, i.e. those individuals who accepted Christ into their hearts to do and to follow His Will for their lives. You will never come to know His will for your life if you don’t first know God personally. You can never be truly successful in life until you first discover His will for your life and begin pursuing it with passion.
Listen carefully to the Word of The Lord as recorded in The Bible in The Book of 1 Timothy, Chapter 6, verses 6-7, NKJV:
(6) “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.
(7) For we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”
Do you desire to be content? Then major in the majors. Do that which you know God wants you to do. Love and serve your fellow man, and love and serve your God. Do it with all of your strength, power, and might. Do it all for the Glory of God!
What God gives to you is His gift of life. Your gift to God is what you do with your life.
Peace and love to all of you……..Poppa Bear