Contentment

So we think we’ve got it rough as a Christian? If that were so, it wouldn’t be too much to give for Christ; according to Matt 16:25 we have got to give up our lives completely to serve the Lord.

If we are the complaining type, maybe it would help us to consider what some people in times past have had to go through to serve God. Read Genesis 39:11-20 and see that Joseph was put in jail for fleeing fornication. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were cast into a fiery furnace for refusing to bow down to a golden image (Daniel 3:14-23). Daniel himself was cast into a den of lions for kneeling and praying to the one true God (Daniel 6:7-16). John the Baptist’s head was cut off because he told someone they were in an unscriptural marriage (Mark 6:16-18). Stephen (Acts 7:54-60), James (Acts 12:1-2), Paul (II Cor 11:24-28), and even Jesus himself (John 19:1-3,18) were all likewise punished by men for seeking to please our Father in heaven.

Let’s compare our situation with theirs. Doesn’t seem so bad now does it? Let’s cut out all the complaining (I Cor 10:10), learn to be content (Philippians 4:11), and spend such energy working in the Lord’s kingdom instead (John 9:4)!, persuading the lost (II Cor 5:11, Acts 8:4).

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