Just finished reading an article by TJ Addington on gratitude. He cited an article from Forbes magazine about the 7 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude that will Motivate You to Give Thanks Year-Round. Then he finished off his article with that most difficult of questions: “Are you living a thankful life today?”
It kind of ‘grate-d’ against my soul to read that question, rather than cause a gusher of grate-fulness to pour out of my heart.
Now the problem is not with TJ, nor the article. It’s actually with my heart, with our hearts. We are just not satisfied. Not satisfied with life, with work … we might even admit we are not satisfied with God at times. As Tim Chester put the question: “Do you want more of God? Do you want to enjoy him? Or let’s put the question like this: do you like God?”
So as I start, as we start 2019, a check of our hearts would be in order. Here is a short text and one question to reflect on and get us started:
“A soul that is capable of God can be filled with nothing else but God; nothing but God can fill a soul that is capable of God. Though a gracious heart knows that it is capable of God, and was made for God, carnal hearts think without reference to God. But a gracious heart, being enlarged to be capable of God, and enjoying somewhat of him, can be filling by nothing in the world; it must only be God himself. Therefore you will observe that whatever God may give to a gracious heart, a heart that is godly, unless he give himself it will not do. A godly heart will not only have the mercy, but the God of that mercy as well; and then a little matter is enough in the world, so be it he has the God of the mercy which he enjoys.”
What ‘distracting, heart-consuming care’ keeps us from prizing again today our union with Christ and the work God is carrying out in our lives?
If you are interested in reading further: The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs. It’s not an easy read, but well worth the effort as Burroughs speaks to the heart to motivate, not our pride.
Filed under: Grace, Reflection, Thankfulness | Leave a comment »
Now, I had linked this run to the challenge that I had gifted to us as a mission: to see significant impact among two unreached people groups in the coming months and year. We had chosen to focus our attention on the Dadjo (Chad) and Cham (Cambodia) peoples.
Perfection is elusive. In fact, it’s unattainable in this life. However, that does not keep us from expecting that standard of ourselves and of others. Oftentimes, I either say to myself or I hear other people say: “Why couldn’t (I) they just have done ____?” And you can fill in the blank.
Many times, at this point in the year (whether you are experiencing summer in the northern hemisphere or winter in the southern hemisphere), we sense this kind of ‘funk’ that comes over us. Now a good dictionary will tell you that ‘funk’ means that one is in ‘a state of paralyzing fear, or a depressed state of mind’. I might just say, it’s the desire to just stop doing much of anything; often characterized by the phrase: “I mean, what’s the use of doing ___________ (and you fill in the blank)?”
