How to be Content in Every Season: Make Jesus the center of your joy
This article is republished from Dianna Hobbs’ “Your Daily Cup of Inspiration,” one of the Top 100 blogs for women of faith. To get more inspiration like this, visit YourDailyCupOfInspiration.com.
I was riding down the street when I noticed a slogan on the side of a Perry’s ice cream truck. It read, “Life is a bowl of Perry’s”—a clever play on the popular saying, “Life is a bowl of cherries.”
It’s quite common for corporations to equate their products to life and connect them with positive emotions, so you will make these feel-good mental associations and buy what they’re selling. One of Coca Cola’s past slogans, for example, is “Open Happiness,” and the tagline for Folger’s coffee is, “The best part of waking up is Folger’s in your cup.”
Although we know a bowl of Perry’s ice cream is not life, Coke does not equal happiness and Folger’s coffee isn’t the best part of waking up, these ideas can easily get stuck in our head and impact our buying choices. Often, in commercials, movies and advertisements, ice cream is the cure for sadness, and hot coffee or cold soda makes the one drinking it smile and feel refreshed. But none of these things, even if momentarily pleasing to the palette, can truly make any of us happy or fill the longing of the soul.
I’m reminded of some words Jesus spoke to the church at Laodicea—known as the lukewarm church—in Revelation 3:17-18. He told them, they didn’t even realize that they were poor and blind. And He advised them to put salve on their eyes so they could see. The words of Jesus are significant here, because Laodicea was known for its wealth and took great pride in its school of ophthalmology that created collyrium, a famous eye salve.
Obviously, Jesus wasn’t speaking to Laodicea’s natural state of being. Otherwise, His words would have contradicted their reality. He was addressing their spiritual state and pointing out that, though they were materially rich and could treat natural blindness, they were yet spiritually poor and blind. They claimed to know Christ but didn’t. They needed to let Him in for real, repent of their sins and be saved. Then, Jesus would open their spiritual eyes and fill the deep longing of their souls.
In the world, many people chase material wealth and natural things that supposedly make life better, but they remain empty even after attaining these things. Once the money is earned, the food is consumed, the vacation is over, the new car and home is purchased, and the shopping spree ends, the void remains. It becomes quickly apparent that life is not a bowl of Perry’s (or cherries for that matter).
Life is found in Christ alone. Only He can fill and fulfill us. Friend, when you have Him, you are spiritually rich, and life is infinitely better.
“Christ is the key to contentment. Don’t get caught up in what the world offers. When you have Jesus, you have EVERYTHING you need. Period.”
Matthew 6:33 is such an important verse to internalize. It says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Let God be your ultimate desire, and the rest of the things will come. Then, when those things are added to you, it won’t be the stuff that does the satisfying. Your joy will already be full, and everything else will only serve to complement your existing, overflowing joy.
When your heart is in constant pursuit of God and your relationship with Him is strong, an amazing thing happens: You experience joy and contentment in every season. Paul said in Philippians 4:12-13 NLT, “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”
Let’s face it. None of us will have everything we want all the time. Therefore, if our contentment hinges on the fulfilment of all our fleshly desires, we’re in big trouble. We’ll never be joyful! But when our joyfulness is tied to our fellowship with Christ, peace, joy and praise will endlessly flow like a river.
Today, let your declaration be, I’m satisfied with Jesus. That doesn’t mean you don’t pray, trust and hope for bigger and better things. You simply understand that you already possess the greatest thing: salvation through Christ! Everything else is just a bonus. When you live like that, your faith will be unmovable, your joy unquenchable, and your peace undisturbable.
As you strive to delight in the Lord above all else, I’m stirring a reminder into your cup of inspiration that is found in 1 Timothy 6:6 KJV, which says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, make sure Jesus is the center of your joy. When you worship the Giver and not the gift, your joy will be endless because it will come from being connected to Christ, the source of every good and perfect thing.
