I Worship My Television

In reading the fourth chapter of The Greener Grass Conspiracy there were several things that stuck out to me.

God should be receiving our whole hearts and most of the time we are just giving Him pieces of it. God wants us to give Him our hearts and to follow Him and to trust Him for everything. A lot of the times, me included, people just give certain areas of their life over to God and try to figure out the rest of it by themselves. We are better off if we give it all to God.

"Discontentment is the result of misplaced worship." Our misplaced worship is anything that we give our heart to that is not God and place our happiness is that thing. Tim Keller says "If anything becomes more funamental than God in your happiness, meaning in life, and identity, then it is an idol." Everyone knows what idolatry is but it's so easy to forget that it incluses anything that we place before God- even the small things in our lives that we value more than God.

We need to take action against all the idols in our lives and this requires us to change our thinking and our behavior. If we try to fix our thinking and behavior and remove the idols from our lives- this will be the first step toward contentment. Instead of demanding the things we "need" from God we need to pray in the right weay in stating what we desire but that God knows what we really need and give it to God to meet them in His own way and in His timing. So many times, we are impatient and demanding things from God. We need to just relax and leave it up to God to work things out the way He sees fit.

This doesn't mean we can not enjoy things as a gift from God, but we have to remember not to let it become an idol in our lives and let it take away the worship away from God. Because when it becomes an idol in our life then it is wrong and not a gift from God.

To sum it up, God gives us gifts to enjoy here on earth but we must remember that they are gifts and not to control our lives and take the place of God. We need to not let them be idols in our lives because then we are placing our trust in those things and ourselves and not where the true trust should lie which is in God alone.

So What Am I, A Monk?

In reading the third chapter of The Greener Grass Conspiracy (the titles of my posts are the title chapters given in the book) I found a couple key points I wanted to highlight and that I found useful in remembering:

Philippians 4:11 "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." If we are truly content in God than we don't base things on life's circumstances and the constant changing of them.

Contentment is inward, not dependent on circumstances that are always changing in our lives. It is an issue of the heart and we should examine our inward motives and determine where our heart truly lies. Our identity and contentment should be wrapped up in Jesus Christ because He is the only one that matters in our life.

Often times, especially during hard times, we tend to prepare for what God is going to "drop" on us. We know that He will work things out but in the meantime we often act like this. When we act like this it is not honoring to God.

The key is to learn to be content in God's will- whatever that may bring us. Whether it be good things or bad things we need to remember that God is in control and has a plan.

         "Whate'er my God ordains is right:
          Here shall my stand be taken;
          Though sorrow, need, or death be mine
          Yet I am not forsaken
          My Father's care is around me there;
          He holds me that I shall not fall,
          And so to Him I leave it all."

I'm Not The Center of The Universe

In reading the second chapter of The Greener Grass Conspiracy I was reminded/learned new things that are important for me to know so that I can continue to seek contentment for my life. I've found it hard to be content many times in my life with different circumstances that I'm coming across and am reminded to take it day by day in working on being content. There are several things that I have learned for this chapter. The first part of the chapter was such a good reminder of how many times we see ourselves as the center of the universe but in reality, God is and should be the center of the universe. I know I often see myself as more important at times, but in actuality, I'm not. God made all of creation and us and we should be putting Him in the center of our lives instead of ourselves.

"Discontentment happens when I attempt to displace God from his rightful place at the center of the universe." This statement is powerful and so true. We often take God out of the equation or put Him on the back burner of our lives because we think we have everything together and under control. I know I do, and it's wrong. God is in control of our lives and we should seek Him in order to gain direction for our lives.

This paragraph stood out to me and explains contentment really good and speaks for itself.
          "Contentment is created in the shadow of the majesty of God. I become content when I see and treasure and embrace the glory of God. I find contentment when I grasp the fact that life is not primarily about me and my comfort and my happiness. My soul is satisfies when I stop trying to elbow my way to the center of the universe and instead rejoice in and worship the God who really is at the center of all things."

"Our goal is to be content for the glory and honor of God." This quote should be our goal in our life and that is what as Christians we should be striving for. We should put our trust in God and let Him help us ini our daily walk with Him and to learn more about Him.

Acts 20:24 states "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."

The main point that I came away with this time was that God has control of our lives and can do with us as He pleases. I mean after all He did create us and our goal is to bring honor and glory to Him in all aspects of our lives. Often times I think that this fact is forgotten and overlooked so it was a great reminder to me to remember that God is in control of the universe and not yourself.

Contentment

I am currently reading The Greener Grass Conspiracy: Finding Contentment on Your Side of the Fence by Stephen Altrogge. So far I have just read the introduction and the first chapter and I'm excited to read the rest of the book. A couple of things that stuck out to me was that he talked about that circumstances aren't really the things that cause us to be discontent in our lives. It is our heart attitude. A lot of times we have a bad attitude of what we don't have or what we can't accomplish in our lives right now and that defeats us because we let it affect our heart and become discontent. True contentment is found in Jesus alone. "If you follow Jesus, you will have every spiritual need met." In Philippians 4:11-12 Paul talks about how he learned to be content in everything. "Not that i am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need." This blew me away. So many times I am discontent in my situations and things that I would love to happen and get down that they aren't happening right when I want them to. These verses show us that it is possible to be content in our lives but that only happens through Jesus and us asking for that help. A motivation that the book gives is this: "Godliness + Contentment = Great Gain" It's so true! We can have great gain through Christ and learning to stay content in the things in our lives. This chapter definitely spoke to me and made me realize that I need to seek God and give Him the things that I'm not content with in my life and ask Him to help me to be content with where I am in life and to work on the things that I need to be improving. Contentment is a part of life where I think everyone struggles in and it's comforting to know that God is right there with you to help you through it and to bring along side friends and mentors to help encourage you along the way.

The Start of a New Year!

Well I am finally done with my college career!!! I'm very excited to what the future for me holds! It seemed like finishing college would never come and now it's here. Life is moving on- which is a good thing! I recently had a birthday and am now the big 23! It's hard to believe I'm that old already. I never really make new year resolutions but this year I'm going to read my Bible more and get more into God's Word. I would love to learn some new things, such as some line dancing or just fun random things. Another resolution that I'm working on is to move out and find my own place. And I'm sure there are other resolutions that I will come up with along the way. I'm very excited to embark on the next part of my life and all the challenges and fun times that are to come. I'm still working  at the Preschool and loving it! I'm so fortunate to have a job that I love to do!
Happy New Year Everyone!