The advent season is upon us. As we embark on the season where we celebrate the birth of Christ, I am reminded that we need to remember the reason for the season. I suddenly begin to get anxious about buying Christmas gifts and decorating my house. We need to reset our hearts on the gift of Christ; Christmas on the other hand can be the most discontented season with the focus on giving presents people don’t need and receiving presents you didn’t want. As I was pondering all of this and studying the 13th chapter in Hebrews, I found nestled in verse 5 the following words:
Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have for he has said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”
Hidden in this exhortation to be content is the “how to”. We are able to be content to the extent we believe that God will never forsake us. True contentment comes from a deep place within each of us that knows that God is good, faithful, and never will abandon us.
But here is the problem. Other people may have abandoned you. Other people may have stolen your sense of belonging and rejection may be the fruit of this.
But God….
Offers you Himself and He sets a table before you of promises in His Word that reminds us that His supply of provisions never runs dry. Sometimes we fill the empty places in our lives by pursuing money, or things that money can buy, but true contentment will never fill souls that are filled with “things”.
As a young child, I sometimes felt like an outlier; that I did not belong to the cool group or wasn’t smart enough, and a pattern of trying to find my place persisted into my adult life. One day, as I was reading Scripture the Lord took me to this passage: Be content. And I heard the Holy Spirit speak to my heart: “You don’t have to prove yourself. Simply be yourself.” Be content with you God created you to be. This turn around in my life led me to understanding that true contentment and having a sense of belonging, comes from a relationship with Jesus.
The definition of contentment is a state of satisfaction. If you are unsatisfied with life, restless and discontented, turn to Jesus. He is the only One who can fill the hole in your heart.
