Contentment & Abundance

I'm not really one to make resolutions during New Years. Some of this is out of doubt that I'll stick to it. I hesitate to make a seemingly firm decision to do or not do something, only for that motivation to die out three weeks into January. I also am not typically inspired or spurred on by timeline-goals or numbers. A calendar year is a man-made invention... why must I confine my goal of growth to 365 days? Why does this number need to be assigned with so much significance? On that note, often my response to the question "What's your New Years resolution?" falls along the lines of simply wanting to grow. No minimum amount of growth is unacceptable. Growth is growth, no matter how small. But I've also discovered that by not putting a cap on things, I'm less likely to become lazy. If I say I'm going to spend a full day in fasting and prayer every month, and I meet that goal, what about the rest of the time? Is it just something to cross off a list? But growing... you never get to the end of it.

So earlier this year, as I thought, not about goals and numbers, but growth, God impressed these two words upon me: Contentment and abundance.

A few words that describe contentment are: fulfillment, satisfaction, pleasure, serenity, gratification. In Paul's letter to the church in Philippi, he says "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. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Phil 4:11-13) So often, my contentment is based on what's going on around me. I can easily experience satisfaction and serenity when I'm abounding, when I'm facing times of plenty. But my joy is whisked away like a dried up tumbleweed when I'm brought low. When I'm lonely or unsure or unmotivated.

I've discovered that contentment can only come from Jesus. This may feel like a "duh" statement, and it probably is, but how often do I actually live it? Not very often. If my contentment begins and ends in Him alone, why do I chase other things, place things on pedestals, refuse to live in the moment, where He's doing things now? Can I actually be content in Him when I'm not spending time with Him, not serving Him or accepting His convictions? It's really hard to be fulfilled by God when I don't allow Him to fill the role as the most important part of my life.

Jump back to the letter to the Phillipians, and just a few verses later in Phil 4:19, Paul says "And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Jesus Christ."

The Greek word for "riches" here is "ploutos," which refers to "abundance of external possessions" and/or "fullness, abundance, and plentitude."

Riches are exhaustible for us. But to God, the earth is His, everything in it, and everything outside of it. He owns all things, has created all people, and has resources that we can't even dream of. There is nothing on this planet or beyond that He is unqualified to use. Physical things, like money, food, buildings, or people... immaterial things, like peace, joy, hope, courage. They're all His. James 1:17 says "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." Not some of the good things come from God. EVERY good gift!

At a glance, I think that it's easy to see these two words, contentment and abundance, as contrary to each other. If we are truly content, why would we need to seek out something more, something further? Our satisfaction and serenity must not be placed on anything other than God, so if we are in relationship with Him, shouldn't that be enough? Shouldn't we be opposed, strongly opposed, to trying to acquire more?

But here's the thing. Yes, it's true that, as disciples of Jesus, He is our one thing. When we're fully in Him, we are fully content. No question. In any and every circumstance, no matter how much or how little we have, or how strongly the darkness tries to press in. He is enough. He is ALSO able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20-21) Do we truly believe this? There's so much talk about being content in all situations, and this is very good. But have we let ourselves become closed off to the idea that maybe, just maybe, God wants to do more? Is my search for contentment out of my desire to remain comfortable, snug as a bug in a rug in a life that has less risk or sacrifice? Can we even humor the idea that He doesn't want us to just sit complacently, without expectation, in what we call contentment? He wants to GIVE! It's in His very nature!

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matt. 7:7-11)

I don't know about you, but I strongly dislike asking people for things. I don't want to impose, and I don't want to face the rejection if I've asked for too much. But Jesus tells us to ask. He wants us to bring our requests and needs and dreams to Him, and out of His great abundance, wants to bless us. I'm not preaching a "prosperity gospel" here. God isn't a genie, and He doesn't give us everything we want, just because we want it. Sometimes these gifts are truly blessings in disguise. Sometimes they require a bit (or a lot) of risk and sacrifice. Nonetheless, He gives us good gifts, because by doing that, He gets the glory.

Will we ask Him for good gifts beyond anything we can achieve by our own power? I don't see this as lack of contentment, if our hearts are fixated on our Heavenly Father. If it were, why would Jesus tell us to ask for things? Why would He tell us to, in prayer and thanksgiving, present our requests to God? (Phil 4:6) Contentedly resting in God doesn't mean that we don't ask Him for anything... it means we have the freedom to ask Him for everything, to glorify His name! We don't need to assume that He'll give us just what we need to scrape by... not He, the King of the universe, the One who holds everything together! If we ask in faith for His abundance to be revealed, will He not come through for us?

Go ahead and give your big dreams to your Heavenly Father. Invite Him into them and see how He wants to use them, and allow Him to reshape them for His glory. Don't hold anything back. Go in expectantly, resting fulfilled in His goodness, and be amazed.