My awesome friend Sarah is a blog reader, I don't know if she's ever thought of blogging herself, and she forwarded me this blog about being single and content. (You should check it out!) http://www.boundless.org/
There have been, are, and will be plenty of times that I can look at a friend's blessings and say, "Why can't that be me?" And then I turn to Scripture and all throughout there are passages of God calling us "to rejoice with those who rejoice". (Rom 12:15) It's biblical that we rejoice in the moments when our friends are reaping the gifts from God, because they are from God. Likewise I have gifts that God has given me. A new calling to youth ministry and a job interview that I am stoked about! These are things that I do not deserve; I'm thankful that instead of whacking me upside the head, God uses the Holy Spirit to call me back to the dwelling place I need to be in.
Escaping from the world's standards is difficult because we are called by God to be in the world and not of it. Mixed signals? No, God uses His people to glorify Himself as well as call others to Him. But it requires action on our part and the working of the Holy Spirit to keep our eyes on Jesus. Jesus was the one who turned the cross, a sign of death into a sign of life, His resurrection!
Here are some other Bible passages that might help you in your season of finding contentment:
- "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for 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." Phil. 4:11-12
- "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am
strong." 2 Cor. 12:10
- "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3
- "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act." Psa. 37:3-5
- "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." James 4:8
- "And I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat
and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through
the days of his life that God has given him under the sun." Ecc. 8:15
- "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Psa. 23:1
- "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!" Psa. 37:7
- "I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness
enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly
wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. Though
the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce
of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off
from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in
the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation." Hab. 3:16-18
- "Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor
riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and
deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God." Prov. 30:8-9
- "So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God." 1 Cor. 7:24
- "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." Psa. 55:22
- "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psa. 118:24
- "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Prov. 17:22
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