There are so many things that happen in the world that can easily affect our mind and emotions. We need to learn that, with God, we have the power to rise above them. With God’s Spirit living in us, we have so much more control over our outlook than we often recognise. There will always be things in our lives that we don’t feel great about. It’s impossible for everything around us to make us happy. However, contentment is separate to our in-the-moment feelings of happiness. In our Christian lives, contentment means accepting what God has given you and praising Him through it, and that comes down to a choice. 1 Timothy 6:6 tells us that ‘godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it’ (NIV). Paul is reminding us there that the things around us don’t need to dictate whether we’re content in God or not. What we have around us in this world is temporary, but God’s love and care is forever. Colossians 3:1-2 carries the instruction to ‘set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things’ (NIV). By doing that, we can find stability. Jesus never changes, so when our hearts are set on Him, our unreliable emotions filter out, and our certainty in God can help us choose to praise God for everything that He is. This brings us back to the idea of adoration that we thought about yesterday. Spending time focussing on who God is, putting aside what’s going on around us, and even what we think God is or isn’t doing in this moment, will help us set our hearts and minds on His personality, and lead us to choose contentment.

What Now?

Complete this sentence as many times, in as many different ways, as you can: ‘God is always…’