Bible Study was great last night. We were talking about contentment, and Pete showed us this great list (thanks Craig) by EB Pusey--1.Allow yourself to complain of nothing, not even the weather.
2.Never picture yourself to yourself under any circumstances in which you are not.
3.Never compare your own lot with that of another.
4.Never allow yourself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves you better and more wisely than you do yourself.
5.Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's, not yours. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. The Lord will provide.
5 comments:
2 and 5 are the big ones for me.
Ben, it sounds like a worthwhile reflection and I can certainly use some rebuking on this point. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I worry that this kind of teaching on 'contentment' can sometimes make it sound as though 'groaning' at sin and fighting against injustice are unChristian. Evangelicals in the 19th century were often opposed to any attempt by poor people to lobby for better conditions (through trade unions etc) because this showed an unChristian lack of contentment. After all, God had lovingly given them an unjust boss and forced their children to starve! The latter is of course not biblical thinking, but it raises for me some of the issues around evangelical thinking on 'contentment'. (Exactly the same thing was preached to slaves in pre-Civil War America).
Hi Joanna, you make a good point. I think it is great advice with the right application. I think it should be seen as 'me preaching this to me', not 'me preaching this to you', if that makes sense-- so the poor slave can preach this to himself, but if his rich master preaches 'be content' to his slave, well obviously that is the wrong application.
Something we discussed last night was that you can be content while still striving to change your situation. So contentment and peace is found in God (only), but you can still work to make things different in the physical realm. Also that there are righteous things to be discontent about (such as injustice).
But there is still, for me anyway, a great deal that I can take from this quote that would be hugely beneficial to me spiritually.
Those points really look like things I need to ponder...and then make a part of me!
Me too, Priscilla-- thanks for stopping by
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