Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:25-26
Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to say with the psalmist, "God, I am full! I'm stuffed full of blessings and I can't think of anything else I desire on earth besides you." Oh, to be that satisfied. When you become satiated in Christ, it is evidence that contentment has the definite upper hand in your heart. When Jesus says to you, "I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry," he is talking about gratification of the soul (John 6:35). To be satisfied in Christ means being full. Never wanting more. We need not ever be hungry for "Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3).
The role of the Word of God is to feed faith's appetite for Christ. Contentment consists not in great wealth, but in having very few wants in this life. A divine arithmetic for contentment is to subtract your earthly wants so that something of greater value can be attained: satisfaction in the Lord.
Francis Quarles has stated, "As there is no worldly gain without some loss, so there is no worldly loss without some gain. If thou hast lost thy wealth, thou hast lost some trouble with it. If thou art degraded from thy honor, that art likewise freed from the stroke of envy. If sickness hath blurred thy beauty, it hath delivered thee from pride. Set the allowance against the loss and thou shalt find no loss great." Edythe Draper, Draper's book of Quotations for the Christian World, (Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.: Wheaton, IL), p 101.
Father, not everything I desire is necessarily good for my soul. I pray that you will only give me what is good for my eternal well being and my happiness in this life. Help me to subtract my wants, so that eternal rewards might be added. Then I shall be content.
Devotional taken from Pearls of Great Price. Copyright © 2006 by Joni Eareckson Tada. Used by permission. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
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