{"id":1179,"date":"2013-12-16T00:01:28","date_gmt":"2013-12-16T08:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/?p=1179"},"modified":"2013-12-15T14:04:50","modified_gmt":"2013-12-15T22:04:50","slug":"the-secret-of-contentment-is-the-realization-that-life-is-a-gift-not-a-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/the-secret-of-contentment-is-the-realization-that-life-is-a-gift-not-a-right\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret of Contentment is The Realization That Life is a Gift Not a Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The subject of today\u2019s blog is a very significant one for me personally.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 You were given your life<\/b> as a free and unencumbered gift by a loving Father God….no strings attached. \u00a0 You were also given a free will of choice<\/b> as to what you would eventually wind up doing with your free gift.\u00a0 That entire process is an indication of just how much God did and does love you.<\/p>\n

As an American you have been further blessed by being placed in the freest of all nations on the earth.\u00a0 You are truly a free person<\/b>.\u00a0 Your gifts have really blessed your life, haven\u2019t they?\u00a0 Have you bothered or taken the time out of your busy life to truly thank God for all that He has done for you?<\/p>\n

So many people today all over the globe are extremely discontent, particularly Americans.\u00a0 They are unhappy, perplexed, and even suffer from great vexation at their personal state of affairs.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 What is going on with them?\u00a0 Someone needs to get a grip on life.\u00a0 Some of them need to get a proper perspective on all that is right in their life.\u00a0<\/b> The malcontents need to develop a grateful heart for all that they do have. \u00a0 And finally these unhappy folks need to become thankful for all the blessings that have been given or provided to them.\u00a0 Oh the joy of being a free person in a free country with a free will of choice.<\/b><\/p>\n

God tells us in The Bible where all good gifts come from.\u00a0 In The Book of James, Chapter 1, verses 16-18, NKJV It says:<\/p>\n

(16) \u00a0 \u201cDo not be deceived, my beloved brethren.<\/p>\n

(17)\u00a0 \u00a0 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes\u00a0down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation\u00a0or shadow of turning.<\/p>\n

(18)\u00a0 \u00a0 Of His own will\u00a0 He brought us forth by the word of truth, that\u00a0we might be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Thank you seems so lame, so weak. \u00a0 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.\u00a0 How much more do you personally expect be given to you so as to enable you to live contently?<\/p>\n

Noah Webster in his 1828 Dictionary of the English Language defined the word Content<\/i> as:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 To satisfy the mind of; to make quiet, so as to stop complaint or\u00a0opposition; to appease; to make easy in any situation.
\n2. \u00a0To please or gratify; to delight.
\n3.\u00a0 Rest or quietness of the mind in one\u2019s present condition; satisfaction;\u00a0moderate happiness.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

At age 14, Andrea Jaeger won her first professional tennis tournament.\u00a0 At 18, she reached the finals at Wimbledon.\u00a0 At 19, a bad shoulder all but ended her career.\u00a0 Many a world class athlete may have become bitter or discontented with life at that point.\u00a0 Jaeger, however, turned her competitive spirit to a new endeavor, a nonprofit organization called Kid\u2019s Stuff Foundation that attempts to bring joy to children suffering from cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.\u00a0 Her work there has also inspired her to take correspondence studies in nursing and child psychology.<\/p>\n

Jaeger not only created the program, but runs it full-time, year-round, unpaid.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m inspired by these brave kids, and humbled,\u201d she has said. \u00a0\u201cThey lose their health, their friends, and sometimes their lives.\u00a0 And yet their spirit never wavers.\u00a0 They look at life as a gift.\u00a0 The rest of us sometimes look at ourselves as a gift to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get very spoiled on the tour,\u201d she adds with a twinkle in her eye.\u00a0 \u201cThe courtesy cars, the five-star hotels, the thousands of people clapping for you when you hit a good shot.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to forget what\u2019s important in life….I forget it a lot less lately.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 I had drifted so very far off course with my value system and with my personal associations.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

God is very specific what He demands of me and of everyone else.\u00a0 I want only to do what He wants me to do.\u00a0 I want only to be obedient to the call He has placed on my heart.\u00a0 Trust me when I tell you that I am truly living my life today on purpose!<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 You will never come to know His will for your life if you don\u2019t first know God personally.\u00a0 You can never be truly successful in life until you first discover His will for your life and begin pursuing it with passion.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Listen carefully to the Word of The Lord as recorded in The Bible in The Book of 1 Timothy, Chapter 6, verses 6-7,\u00a0 NKJV:<\/p>\n

(6) \u00a0 \u201cNow godliness with contentment is great gain.<\/p>\n

(7)\u00a0 \u00a0 For we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can\u00a0carry nothing out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you desire to be content?\u00a0 Then major in the majors.\u00a0 Do that which you know God wants you to do.\u00a0 Love and serve your fellow man, and love and serve your God.\u00a0 Do it with all of your strength, power, and might.\u00a0 Do it all for the Glory of God!<\/p>\n

What God gives to you is His gift of life.\u00a0 Your gift to God is what you\u00a0 do with your life.<\/b><\/p>\n

Peace and love to all of you……..Poppa Bear<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The subject of today\u2019s blog is a very significant one for me personally.\u00a0 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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1179"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1183,"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions\/1183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}