Jon Bloom's Blog, page 49

When Black Friday Becomes a Mission

With the Christmas season and all its commercial blitz and glitz upon us (seen especially on Black Friday), let’s lay aside the grousing and see the grace. No throwing wet blankets over Christmas.

May Christmas always blaze healthy and strong in the fireplace of our Decembers, radiating golden light and drawing loved ones and strangers together around its warmth to share a cup of joyful wonder.

And please, let us lay aside fruitless and, frankly, irrelevant debates about pagan origins. That’s no reason for humbug. I hope it’s true! That would be something to celebrate! Jesus came into the world to redeem us pagans and turn us “from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). If ancient solstice celebrations now mark the moment when the Light of the world came to end our long, dark night, then I think it’s of God. It’s just like him to make Christmas itself a parable of redemption.

If there was ever a reason to clothe our homes in light and feast and sing and give generous gifts of love to each other, and just overall make merry, it’s celebrating the Incarnation! Let not the night be silent! Deck the halls, drink wassail, and let’s sing “Joy to the world” with all our might!

God bless you, Christmas! Even as our culture slides toward secularism, you remain the one annual moment so deeply entrenched in our traditions and economy that with joyful, inextricable stubbornness you sing forth the gospel in the most God-forgetting places — like shopping malls.

Which brings us to Black Friday. What, as Christians, should we make of this high day of consumerism?

That’s exactly the question we should ask. And I think we should take a cue from Christmas itself and think of ways we can make Black Friday serve the cause of Christ and his kingdom!

Here are three suggestions:

1. Make it generous.

Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ (Acts 20:35)

In other words, make Black Friday about loving others. If you’re going to shop, shop to give, give, give. Yes, those of us in the West likely don’t need gifts. But loving generosity is a beautiful thing, and God loves it if it is fueled by faith. Braving the overcrowded stores and long lines in order to take advantage of sales that enable you to be more generous with others — possibly to get that one thoughtful gift that will bring someone else unique joy — is a great reason to shop on Black Friday. Make it an act of love in Jesus’s name, which makes it an act of worship.

2. Make it restrained.

Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. (Luke 12:15)

Know a few things before you venture out:

Know how much you’re going to give to the poor. As a governor and guard against covetousness and selfish indulgence, resolve to give away some generous percentage of your gift budget to those in true need before you buy your Christmas gifts.

Know your spending limit, and do not go into debt. Buy what you can really afford. If you can’t afford to buy gifts, give the generous gift of your time and service. Let love, faithful stewardship, and self-control rule your purchases.

Know yourself. “Take care.” If you struggle with compulsive buying, or malls stir up sinful covetousness, or you know that you don’t have the patience to show Jesus well in the shopping frenzy, stay home.

3. Make it about Jesus.

Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Make Black Friday about more than shopping. Make it a kingdom mission.

Go with someone else with whom you can share nourishing fellowship or share the gospel.

Pray before you go out for divine appointments, and be on the look out for people with whom you can share the gospel.

Bless the harried retail cashiers with a kind word, your fellow harried shoppers with your kind patience, and your harried restaurant waiter with a generous tip.

Be prepared to be generous with the bell ringers, exit ramp beggars, and panhandlers in Jesus’s name. Buy a couple $5 gift cards to convenient fast food places to give away with a gospel blessing.

Pray that God will help you find remarkable deals. God loves to bless generosity and cares whether your shopping will glorify him. Ask him (John 15:7).

I’m sure you can add to this list. The bottom line is this: make Black Friday primarily about Jesus, and not primarily about money or possessions. Be generous, be restrained, and be first about Jesus’s kingdom.

And remember to revel in the Christmas glory! Party more heartily (and purely) than anyone this season. Let the glorious, generous, abundant, joyful, warm, wonderful Light of the world shine brightly in all your celebrations!

“Good Christian men (and women) rejoice, with heart and soul and voice!”

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

How Can We Give Thanks in All Circumstances?

Don’t Raise Good Kids

We Are Far Too Easily Displeased

How Can We Give Thanks in All Circumstances?

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

In last week’s post, I described grumbling as the accent of hell and gratitude as the accent of heaven. But as many of us prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving next week, let’s take a longer look at gratitude.

More specifically, how is it possible to obey 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and “give thanks in all circumstances,” especially if our circumstances are horrible? What fuels thanksgiving when life seems to be one discouragement, disappointment, disease, disaster, and death after another?

There is only one way. And Jesus both is the way (John 14:6) and shows the way.

Eucharisteo: Thanks in the Face of Horror

The best place to see Jesus showing us the way is in the Upper Room where he,

took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)

The Greek word for “thanks” in this verse is “eucharisteo.” And the best person I know to unpack this word is Ann Voskamp :

The root word of eucharisteo is charis, meaning “grace.” Jesus took the bread and saw it as grace and gave thanks. He took the bread and knew it to be gift and gave thanks. Eucharisteo, thanksgiving, envelopes the Greek word for grace, charis. But it also holds its derivative, the Greek word chara, meaning “joy.” Charis. Grace. Eucharisteo. Thanksgiving. Chara. Joy. (Eucharisteo Conversation)

Now, let’s think for a moment about what Jesus’s eucharisteo meant.

Thank you, Father, that my body, symbolized by this bread, is about to be brutally broken and I am about to be (momentarily) damned by your wrath (Isaiah 53:10) so that you will receive supreme glory in being able to forgive undeserving sinners (Philippians 2:11) and I will share eternally full joy (John 15:11, Psalm 16:11) with hundreds of millions of forgiven sinners made righteous through my sacrifice (Isaiah 53:11).

Jesus’s thanks was not based on his present circumstances. He was about to endure the worst possible horror. He felt thankful to the Father for the grace and glory that was coming because of the cross and this gave him joy. Eucharisteo.

Future Joy Fuels Your Thankful Endurance

Jesus’s eucharisteo was fueled by his belief in future grace. That’s what the author of Hebrews meant when he wrote that,

Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

Jesus’s eyes were on his future joy. He got through the cross by not focusing on the cross but on the promised joy that would result from it.

That’s where God wants your eyes: on the future joy he has promised you.

What You Have to Look Forward to

And what is your future joy? The very best possible future you could ever imagine — if you will believe it.

You will have the free gift of complete forgiveness of all your sins extending into forever (Romans 6:23).

You will never have to merit your justification by keeping the law (Galatians 2:16).

You will have all your real needs provided while on earth (Philippians 4:19).

You will receive all the grace you need at all times so that you will abound in every good work God has for you (2 Corinthians 9:8).

God will complete the good work he began in you (Philippians 1:6).

You will be raised from the dead and never, ever die again (1 Corinthians 15:52–53).

That means someday soon you will see Jesus, be with him (2 Corinthians 5:8), and be like him (1 John 3:2).

In that day you will know for the first time full, unpolluted joy (Psalm 16:11).

You will be completely free from all corruption (Romans 8:21).

You will have God forever (1 Peter 3:18) as your exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4).

And that’s just a small sampling! The joy set before you is the same joy Jesus had set before him, because you are an heir of the kingdom with him (Romans 8:17).

Look to the Joy Set Before You

So right now you have trouble. That’s okay. Jesus said that you would (John 16:33). And Jesus really understands (Hebrews 4:15).

In fact, the trouble that you endure has a purpose: in it you are displaying the reality of Jesus to the world in a unique way. The kingdom of God is most clearly shown on earth when Christians gratefully suffer present trouble because they see a future weight of glory coming that makes everything this world throws at them as “light and momentary afflictions” in comparison (2 Corinthians 4:17).

So how can you give thanks in all circumstances? There’s only one way: Jesus’s way. Look to the joy set before you. Look to the joy! If the future joy Jesus promises is real and you believe him, there is no circumstance that can steal your thanksgiving.

May all your Thanksgiving celebrations be soaked in eucharisteo.

Read Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gifts . She dissects the anatomy of gratitude like no one else and presses hard into how to live it out daily in the face of small trials and devastating tragedy. (Men, ignore the robin eggs on the cover. This book is red meat.)

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

Don’t Raise Good Kids

We Are Far Too Easily Displeased

God Desires You Far More Than You Desire Him

Don’t Raise Good Kids

Parents, don’t raise good kids. I’m a recovering good kid, and I’m here to tell you that the gospel isn’t for good kids.

I was pretty easy for my parents to raise. I was generally compliant, had a buoyant, warm personality, didn’t get into any serious trouble, was liked by my teachers for the most part, usually did respectably in school, was a leader in my church groups, and had plenty of friends. My adolescent, wild-oat sowing would only generate smirks and eye rolls.

My folks and most adults in my life affirmed me as a good kid, and I believed it. Which posed a problem for me: I struggled to grasp the gospel.

Me? Hell?

Though I believe my pre-adolescent conversion was real — God is gracious to produce and honor a small seed of real faith — it was hard to swallow that I was that bad. God showing favor on me in redemption made sense because others had shown favor on me. But it was hard for me to see that this favor was not the approval of a good kid but the pardoning of a condemned sinner. Really? Me deserve hell?

It took quite a while — I am, in fact, still recovering — to see that in reality I was (am) profoundly depraved. Much of my outward good behavior was fueled by evil, selfish motives. Underneath my good-kid veneer was a glory-stealing, envious, covetous, idolatrous, lecherous person.

What Total Depravity Really Is

That’s why I think one of the best things we parents can do for our children is to teach them the doctrine of total depravity. Here’s how John Piper puts it in the new book Five Points: Towards a Deeper Experience of God’s Grace:

The totality of that depravity is clearly not that man does as much evil as he could do. There is no doubt that man could perform more evil acts toward this fellow man than he does. But if he is restrained from performing more evil acts by motives that are not owing to his glad submission to God, then even his “virtue” is evil in the sight of God.

Romans 14:23 says, “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” This is a radical indictment of all natural “virtue” that does not flow from a heart humbly relying on God’s grace. (Five Points, pages 17–18)

Hellions in Compliant Disguise

There’s the key: “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” Goodness is not behavior that ranks above the median line relative to other sinful people. Goodness is a fruit of faith (Galatians 5:22). When good kids’ behavior isn’t flowing from a deep trust in God, they’re being good for bad reasons. They’re just hellions in a compliant disguise.

The good news is that Jesus came to save hellions! But it’s crucial that hellions know they’re hellions, because “those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. [Jesus] came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

So parents, make sure you have a firm grip on the true doctrine of total depravity so that you don’t encourage evil goodness in your children. For apart from Jesus, nothing good dwells in them (Romans 7:18).

John Piper’s Five Points: Toward a Deeper Experience of God’s Grace is now available. Get a free PDF or, for a limited time, get the paperback for 50% off at WTS Books.

We Are Far Too Easily Displeased

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. (Philippians 2:14–15)

I am a grumbler by (fallen) nature.

Just this morning a malfunctioning software program required my attention. Experience told me the likely course: at least two times on the phone with customer support and at least two glitches in the fixing process. Forty-five minutes minimum. Probably more. (All proved true, by the way.) Immediately I resented this time-stealing inconvenience. And when my wife called in the middle of dealing with it, out of my mouth came my displeasure.

Life problems don’t get much smaller. What is the matter with me?

The matter is that I too easily listen to the lies of my pathologically selfish sin nature, which assumes all of reality should serve its preferences and grumbles against anything that doesn’t. The truth is, when I grumble, I have lost touch with reality.

What Grumbling Gauges

Grumbling is a gauge of the human soul. It gauges our gaze on grace. It tells us that we’re not seeing grace.

Grumbling pours out of our soul whenever we feel like we’re not getting what we deserve. Sometimes we’re even crass enough to think, to hell with what we deserve, we’re not getting what we want.

Grumbling is a symptom of a myopic soul. Selfishness has caused tunnel vision and has fixated on a craving(s). The soul has lost sight of the glory and wonder and splendor and hope that is the reborn, redeemed life and thus it is far too easily displeased. Grumbling is evidence of soul-vision impairment.

What Gratitude Gauges

The opposite of grumbling in the soul is gratitude. And gratitude also gauges our gaze on grace. It tells us that we are seeing grace.

Gratitude pours out of our souls whenever we we’re receiving a gift we know we don’t deserve and we experience a humble happiness. And as sinners who have received the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24), we are receiving these gifts all the time.

Gratitude is a symptom of a healthy, expansive soul. The gospel of grace has given it panoramic vision, allowing it to see that this grace will be sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9) to meet every need (Philippians 4:19) when inconvenience, crisis, weakness, affliction, unexpected demand, suffering, and persecution hit. In fact, in all these things this grace will make us “more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Accents of Heaven and Hell

Gratitude is the accent of the language of heaven because there everything is undeserved grace. No creature that basks in the eternal, deep, powerful, satisfying, overflowing joys of heaven will have merited being there. Each will be there solely by the grace of God, which is why we will all sing,

To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! (Revelation 5:13)

But grumbling is the accent of hell’s language because it’s how a creature’s pride responds to the Creator’s decision to do or allow something that the creature does not desire. Grumbling scorns God because it elevates our desires and judgments above his.

That’s why the world is so filled with grumbling. It’s ruled by the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2) and its citizens speak the official language.

Do All Things Without Grumbling

And that’s why Paul tells us to “do all things without grumbling” (Philippians 2:14). The children of God should not speak with the accent of hell.

Rather, our speech should always be gracious (Colossians 4:6); it should have the accent of heaven. Those who have been forgiven so much (Luke 7:47) and promised so much (2 Peter 1:4) should speak words that are always salted with gratitude (Ephesians 5:20). That’s one way we “shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). Gospel gratitude is a foreign language here. We are citizens of a better country (Hebrews 11:16).

Doing all things without grumbling is humanly impossible. But thankfully not with God (Mark 10:27). What it requires is getting our eyes off ourselves and onto Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and all God promises to be for us in him. It requires seeing grace. Being different comes from seeing differently.

Here’s the Bible logic that provides the escape from the temptation to grumble (1 Corinthians 10:13): “all things work together for [my] good” (Romans 8:28), and “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13), so therefore I can “do all things without grumbling” (Philippians 2:14).

Yes it is hard. It’s a fight. God told us it would be that way (1 Timothy 6:12). But we will grow in the gracious habit of cultivating gratitude through the rigorous exercise of constant practice (Hebrews 5:14) of seeing grace.

Lord, help us speak more in the accent of heaven!

Prone to grumbling, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to scorn the God I love;

Here’s my eye, O take and peel it

Till I see the grace above.

Then “the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart [will] be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

God Desires You Far More Than You Desire Him

Five Ways to Refresh the Saints in Your Life

Lay Aside the Weight of Discontentment

God Desires You Far More Than You Desire Him

Christianity is not so much about you desiring God as it is about God desiring you. I wonder if you believe that.

We are all about desiring God at Desiring God. We believe with all our hearts that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

But the truth is that we will not desire God if we don’t believe that really God desires us. If God is a powerful person who in reality cares little or nothing about us, we may have a fear-based respect for him, but we will not love him. We will certainly not be satisfied in him. We will keep our distance from him and find our true satisfaction elsewhere.

This is, in fact, why many of us feel distant from God. We think he’s distant from us, but really we are keeping our distance from him. We don’t desire God because we believe things about him that are wrong. And because of that we have grown cynical, disillusioned, and have serial spiritual adulterous affairs with idols in our lives.

And if this describes you, you’re listening to what your perception says about God and not what God says about God. And what you need right now is to come to terms with the truth that “Jesus Christ desires to be with you a thousand times more than you desire to be with him.” He wants you! You need to know that the Christian God is a desiring God.

Listen to the message that pastor R W Glenn delivered at our National Conference six weeks ago. In this message, he beautifully unpacks this truth from Hosea chapter 7. Please listen to it. It’s 45 minutes that really may change your life. It may help you understand why you struggle so much to desire God and it may open up a new world of worship for you. Here’s a taste:

If God says that he wants you (and wants all of you) warts and all, he wants you. Everything about you – all the stuff you are ashamed of, all the stuff you hate about yourself, all your failures, all the weaknesses, all your filthiness and all your idolatry, all your unbelief — God wants you still. Stop believing yourself and believe him instead. He’s got a fix on reality. And the reality is that the Lord loves you with all he is.

Jesus so loved you and desired you that while you were still a sinner he died for you (Romans 5:8). And if you love him at all it is because he first loved you (1 John 4:19). Delve into that glorious mystery! Don’t remain distant!

It may be that before you can focus on desiring God, you need to focus on the desiring God. When you really know the desiring God, you’ll find him irresistible.

Related resources:

Getting to the Bottom of Your Joy

Christian Hedonism with Questions and Answers

Nothing Can Separate Us from the Love of Christ

Five Ways to Refresh the Saints in Your Life

When reading Paul’s letter to Philemon this week I saw a theme I hadn’t really seen before. This letter is an instruction on how to refresh the saints.

Philemon was a refreshing person. When Paul thought about Philemon he thought about the joy and comfort Philemon had given him and others:

I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. (Philemon 1:7)

Doesn’t that make you want to be like Philemon? Don’t you want to be a joy and a comfort to others? In this “dry and weary land” (Psalm 63:1) don’t you want to be an oasis of living water (John 7:38) for parched saints?

That’s what Jesus wants us to be. He says,

Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. (Matthew 10:42)

The ministry of refreshment is so important to Jesus that he wants us to know the reward there is for those who give it.

And in Philemon, Paul tells us five ways we can refresh the saints.

1. Love and Trust Jesus

I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus. (Philemon 1:5)

“Love the Lord, all you his saints” (Psalm 31:23). God is love (1 John 4:8) and therefore love is from God (1 John 4:7). Only when we love and trust God supremely that we have the resources to love our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:27). It is our profound love for and trust in the Lord Jesus that will refresh our brothers and sisters most. Only the water Jesus has quenches the thirst of the human soul (John 4:13–14), and we can only give it to others when we are drinking it ourselves.

2. Love the Saints

I hear of your love… for all the saints. (Philemon 1:5)

Talk is cheap. Deeds usually aren’t. That’s why John says, “let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Let’s refresh the saints in our lives by very practically meeting their needs with whatever resources God has given us (1 John 3:17). Yes, let’s give them words of eternal life (John 6:68), but let’s also love them by laying our lives down for their joy (1 John 3:16).

By “the saints in our lives” I mainly mean those in our churches. While we bear some responsibility to refresh needy saints in other parts of the world (e.g. 2 Corinthians 9), we are primarily responsible for those in the faith community where God has placed us.

3. Share Your Faith (with the Saints)

I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. (Philemon 1:6)

Talk can be cheap. But it’s priceless when through it we share real faith. Sharing our faith is not just evangelism. We share our faith every time we point someone to the source of our hope (1 Peter 3:15). And weary saints often need the refreshment of our shared faith. Sharing it is like the loaves and fish. The more you share, the more faith there is. So share it liberally!

4. Free Your Family Members to Serve the Kingdom

I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf. (Philemon 1:13)

Paul wrote this letter to let Philemon know that his prodigal bondservant, Onesimus, was now a brother in Christ and that Philemon should extend him the grace of Christ. But not only that. Paul also made it clear that Onesimus was of great help to Paul’s ministry and that Philemon should not think primarily of his own household rights or needs, but of the kingdom needs.

One way for us to put this principle into practice is to release members of our household for the sake of refreshing the saints even if it involves personal cost and inconvenience for us.

5. Make Your Home an Embassy

“Prepare a guest room for me.” (Philemon 1:22)

The fact that Paul made this request says something about Philemon, namely, that he showed hospitality without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9). We are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). So as Christians our homes are not our castles but our embassies. God has given them to us to refresh the saints and help unbelievers become “fellow citizens with the saints” (Ephesians 2:19). Let’s make our homes oasis places.

Oh the precious, priceless ministry of refreshment. And oh how desperately needed it is. All around us are weary brothers and sisters who are slogging it out in a spiritual war (Ephesians 6:12) on a battlefield of a futile world (Romans 8:20). Yes, there are times for reproofs and corrections (2 Timothy 3:16). But most of the time what our brothers and sisters need are encouragements.

So let’s make it our aim to refresh the saints and choose one practical way to do that today.

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

Lay Aside the Weight of Discontentment

What to Neglect to Have a Rich Life

The Powerful Glory of Yielding Power

When the Vine Really Became Precious

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

It was a July morning in Manila in 1985 when union with Jesus really became precious to me. I know right where I was sitting having devotions in the courtyard of the YWAM outpost.

I was a twenty-year-old struggling to understand how Christ’s work and mine worked together. What really made me acceptable to God? Something taught in the Discipleship Training School class I was taking that week had confused me, and I had been praying earnestly about it.

In my devotions, I had been slowly making my way through John’s Gospel, and chapter 15 was that day’s reading. As I read it that morning, Jesus’s words exploded off the page. It almost felt like Jesus had sat down next to me and spoke John 15.

He is the Vine, and I am a branch (verse 1). Yes, I need to bear fruit, but I can bear zero fruit on my own (verse 4). I can’t even prune myself (verse 3). I need to be in him so that he can be in me, and I need the Father to cut off all that is extraneous. Apart from my Vine, I can do nothing (verse 5).

It was one of those moments when a number of things suddenly made sense to me. The joy and freedom I experienced was beyond words. My Vine and Vinedresser were my only hope. I could work out my salvation if God was at work in me to will and work his good pleasure (Philippians 2:12–13).

I couldn’t have told you that day that I was beginning to understand the doctrine of union with Christ, but that’s what was happening. It transformed me, and in a sense I’ve lived in John 15 ever since.

Union with Christ. It is precious, precious, precious! It is the gateway to paradise: “Christ in [us], the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). It is what it means to be a Christian. If you know this truth, it will set you free (John 8:32).

That’s why I can hardly wait for the Desiring God 2014 Conference for Pastors (February 3–5) because the theme is “The Pastor, the Vine, and the Branches: The Remarkable Reality of Union with Christ.” To think that hundreds of teachers and preachers will soak in this most precious of doctrines, and bring it back to tens of thousands of their people, is thrilling!

So, pastors and leaders, please join us and be deeply refreshed! The early-bird registration rate ends on November 11, a week from today. We’re praying that God will use your refreshment at this conference to bring joy and freedom to tens of thousands of others!

Lay Aside the Weight of Discontentment

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11–13)

In the race of faith, it is crucial to remember that our contentment is not determined by our circumstances. We often want to blame circumstances for our discontent, but that’s barking up the wrong tree.

Contentment is determined by what we believe. And our belief is fueled by what we’re seeing.
So if you need to lay aside the weight (Hebrews 12:1) of discontentment today—the sinful kind that stems from disappointment and leads to grumbling—begin by looking at what you’re looking at.

Contentment Comes by Seeing the Treasure

When Paul wrote the words above, he was in prison (again). Prisons were nasty places in Paul’s day and he knew he could potentially die. The death he contemplated would not be pleasant. That’s why he wrote,

…it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. (Philippians 1:20)

How could Paul sit in prison, suffering regularly from hunger and exposure, knowing he might be killed, and say, “in whatever situation I am… content”? Because he saw the Prize:

I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:8)

Jesus was a treasure to Paul. What Paul saw in Jesus was what the man in Jesus’s parable saw in the field:

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:44)

Fifteen minutes before the man saw the treasure, would he have been content to sell everything and buy the field? No way. Fifteen minutes after he saw it he was off to the auctioneer. What was the difference? He saw the treasure.

The secret to contentment in “whatever situation” is seeing the Treasure that trumps them all.

Three Steps to Get Your Eyes on the Prize

Sinful discontentment is a weight to lay aside. But you can also think of it as a gauge in your heart that tells you when your spiritual eyes have strayed from the real Prize. When it shows up, stop what you’re doing, look at what you’re looking at, and redirect your mind to the real Treasure.

1. Stop

When you recognize discontentment, the first thing to do is stop what you’re doing. Stop grumbling and complaining. Stop sulking or stomping around the house. Stop the critical tongue toward others that often comes from the abundance of a discontented heart. Stop looking at the covetousness-producing catalogs, Tweets and Facebook pages. Stop and…

2. Look

Look at what you’re looking at. You’re discontent because you perceive an obstacle between you and your prize. Name the prize you want. It’s probably not Jesus since Romans 8:38–39 tells us that nothing can separate us from him.

3. Think

Getting our spiritual eyes back on the right prize only comes by thinking. What we ponder is what we perceive. We’re discontent because we’ve been meditating on the wrong things and become weighed down with lead-like frustration. It’s time to pick up the easy yoke (Matthew 11:30) of delight in Jesus by doing what Paul instructed the Philippians to do:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8)

Don’t let discontentment govern you today. Lay aside this heavy weight by fixing your eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2), whose surpassing worth, when you see it, makes the worst circumstances this world can throw at you nothing but rubbish.

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

What to Neglect to Have a Rich Life

How to Humbly Give and Receive Correction

God’s Bright Design for Your Bitter Providences

What to Neglect to Have a Rich Life

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

This verse from Colossians is so full of nourishment that there is no way to put the whole thing in our mouths at one time. It’s going to take a few blog bites to chew on it.

Today, all I want to do is chew on the first word: “let.” Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Another way to say it is, don’t stop the word of Christ from filling you to satisfaction. Or stop stopping it.

Here’s the thing: we are frequently impoverished spiritually by our own not letting ourselves be rich. On our shelves or bed stands or in our tablets or computers is a bank vault of “true riches” (Luke 16:11). But the pawnshop trinkets of worldly words are deceptively attractive. We can even be on our way to spend our time (the currency of life) on the riches in the vault and end up spending it in the pawnshops along the way.

What Paul wants us to do is neglect things that make us poor and not neglect things that make us truly rich.

What to Neglect

If the word of the Wall Street Journal or World Magazine or Wired Magazine or David Brooks or David Letterman or David McCullough, or John Mayer or John Steinbeck or John Paul II or John Calvin or Richard Dawkins or Richard Branson or Richard Baxter or Bono or Bach or blogs (even this one) dwells in you more richly than the word of Christ, you’re poor. You might be impressive at a dinner party or around a conference table or at small group. But you’re poor. You’re storing up dust.

You don’t need to be in the know.

You don’t need to be admired among the literati or respected in the guild. You don’t need an impressive net worth. You don’t need to be well traveled or well read. You don’t need to be conversant in Portlandia or know how many Twitter followers Taylor Swift has. You don’t need to be politically articulate, or up on the mommy blogs or the young, restless and reformed buzz. You don’t need to see the movie. You don’t need to read the novel. You don’t need to look hip.

What Not to Neglect

But what you desperately need, more than anything else in the world, is the word of Christ dwelling in you richly.

No one speaks like Jesus Christ (John 7:46). He is the Word of God and the Word that is God (John 1:1) He is the Word of Life (1 John 1:1) and when he speaks, his word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12) and he shows you the path of life (Psalm 16:11) and his words give you hope and joy and peace (Romans 15:13).

Jesus is the one human being in all of history who speaks the very words of eternal life (John 6:68) and when you listen and believe his word, it becomes your life (Deuteronomy 32:47), your food (John 6:51), your drink (John 4:14) and your light (Psalm 119:105).

Only Jesus has the words of life. Only him. That’s why the Father pleads with us, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (Mark 9:7).

Everyone else’s words are dust in the winds of time and to chase them is to chase the wind (Ecclesiastes 1:14). The precious few helpful, enlightening, even mortal life-preserving words are only of superficial help to us and in the end will blow away.

The only exceptions are those that help us (and others) listen to the word of Christ.

Let It!

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Don’t neglect it. Listen to his word. Soak in his word. Memorize his word. Eat and chew it slowly. Don’t stop it from benefitting you.

Neglect the TV, blogs, social networks, video games, theaters, magazines, books, hobbies, chores, and pursuits that keep you from the Vault. Neglect the impoverishing pawnshop trinkets of words that will turn to dust in a day, a week, or a few years.

When it comes to life, time really is money. Time is how you spend your life. Don’t waste it. Spend your best time buying “true riches.”

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

How to Humbly Give and Receive Correction

God’s Bright Design for Your Bitter Providences

Hope for the Battle with Intractable Weakness

The Powerful Glory of Yielding Power

Perhaps the only thing harder for prideful humans than humbly wielding power is humbly yielding power.

And the most beautiful Old Testament example of this is the way Jonathan yielded Israel’s throne to David. But as we see in 1 Samuel 23:15–18, he did far more than just yield.

Abinadab had watched his fugitive younger brother receive Jonathan like royalty. Such an embrace. Such intimate talk. Such weeping in farewell. What had David divulged to the enemy’s son?

He stepped beside David at the cave’s entrance and they watched Jonathan depart — returning to serve beside his father whose homicidal paranoia was forcing them to run like foxes and live like badgers.

“David, you won’t like my asking, but I need to. Is it wise just letting him go back to Saul?”

“My life is never safer than when it’s in his keeping.”

Abinadab shifted uneasily. “I know you love him. You’re very loyal. Very trusting. It’s one of your great qualities. I just hope your loyalty isn’t naïve here.”

David said nothing, his eyes still fixed on Jonathan.

Abinidab continued, “Brother, these are treacherous days. You barely escaped Doeg’s loose tongue. And those cowards of Keilah would have offered you as a peace offering to Saul despite the fact that you had just saved their necks from the Philistines. We need clear thinking here. Jonathan is next in line to be king. You’ve been friends. But the fact is, you’re now his one rival to the throne. Isn’t it possible that the blood of royal power may be thicker for Jonathan than the water of your friendship?”

Jonathan’s silhouette melded into the dusky shadows of the Horesh hills. David wiped his eyes and turned back into the cave. “You don’t know him, Abinadab. I’ll forgive this offense to his honor. We’re no more in danger than if that was our father walking away. But it’s not Jonathan’s affection for me that I trust. It’s his faith.”

Abinadab followed David. “Well, I hope I’m wrong, I really do. But Jonathan’s coming out here makes no sense to me if it’s not to spy you out. If he wanted to protect you he should never have come at all! What if he was followed?”

“Nobody’s more skillful at traceless trekking than Jonathan.”

“Maybe. But why would he come just for a friendly visit? Think of the risk. If his father finds out that he’s been here and didn’t report it, his life won’t be worth a pigeon’s. The king has nearly murdered him twice already! If he came here for love then he risked his life and all of ours. Why?”

“To strengthen my hand in God, Abinadab. Because he knows me. He knows how discouraged I can get.” David looked down and smiled. “God sent him because he knows how dark it’s been for me. I know what God has promised me. But with barely a step between me and death, it’s like I forget.”

David sat down on the rock near his gear and pulled some parchment from his satchel. “I’ve been working on this psalm. Let me read you the first lines:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,

And by night, but I find no rest. (Psalm 22:1–2)

“Today,” David paused, clenching back sobs. “Today Jonathan risked his life to help me rest—to remind me that God is not far at all. What he said to me was, ‘Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel,’” David paused again as tears flowed freely, “‘and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.’

“Jonathan believes God, Abinadab. It’s his faith I trust. Jonathan loves God more than he loves power. And more than he loves me. He loves me because he loves God. That makes him the safest man in the world to me. He has no equal.” David hung his head. “I only hope he survives his father’s insane faithlessness. I so desperately want him next to me.”

David had a very difficult calling: to wield the power of Israel’s kingship with God-dependent humility.

Jonathan’s calling may have been more difficult: to yield the power of Israel’s kingship with God-dependent humility.

But Jonathan didn’t just yield to David. He loved David (1 Samuel 18:1), empowered David (1 Samuel 18:4), protected and advocated for David (1 Samuel 20). And when David’s faith-hand was losing its grip, he sought him out and “strengthened his hand” by reminding him of God’s promises (1 Samuel 23:17). He could have only done this if he trusted in the Lord with all his heart (Proverbs 3:5).

Like Jonathan, God wants us to seek first the kingdom (Matthew 6:33), not our prominence in it. When we trust God enough to yield our prominence (or expected prominence) to someone else for God’s purposes it’s a sign and wonder. And when we go beyond that to doing everything in our power to help them succeed — nothing else quite images the Philippians 2:5–11 glory of Jesus.

Jonathan did not consider the throne a thing to be grasped, but he made himself nothing for God’s sake and became a Christ-like servant. Let us also “have this mind” (Philippians 2:5).

This story is from 1 Samuel 16:8; 1 Samuel 22:9–19; 1 Samuel 23:1–14; 1 Samuel 14:24–46, 20:30–34; and 1 Samuel 20:3.