Content?!

I recently changed jobs. It’s been an adjustment, as job changes usually are. The way I got the job had people looking at me as a bit of a dark horse, though they were friendly enough to me. But, people are people and some of the conversations surrounding the job I was chosen to fill made their way to my ears. That hasn’t been upsetting. What has been upsetting is realizing I didn’t move when I knew I should have. My old job, in retrospect, wasn’t giving me enjoyment. I thought I was content.

CONTENT?!

There’s that word I’ve heard Mark using in sermons lately, to not just be content with what I’m doing. So I started checking places in the Bible where we are directed to be content. Sound like a conflict? Maybe, until you start reading in what we are directed to be content. It’s what we have. Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” I have all the things I need to be comfortable.

Then it hit me, I wasn’t content, I was complacent! I was willing to do the daily thing because it was familiar and therefore easy. I could do it without thinking. Then Mark’s God inspired words hit me- God loves me too much to leave me where I am. I wasn’t learning, stretching, or even trying to be hands and feet in the daily. Conviction is heavy, but oh so sweet when the realization is followed by the whisper, “Okay Pumpkin, you’ve goofed off, time to get to work- My Work! I love you, I have my plan. Keep your eyes open baby girl.”

My new job has put people in my path who need Jesus. While I can’t expect to win an entire crew of people, I hope I can snag one, who then can snag someone, and on and on. One thing I’ve learned about walking with people through moments when everything looks like a cloud to them- sometimes it just takes one person to say, “I see you, and if I see you, please know that the Lord does too.” Recognizing the daily mission- that has been my failure, but now it is my opportunity. It’s obvious, I’m not going to win giant crowds, instead, I’m going to quietly, and sometimes loudly (those who know me) walk with a small number of people, and let God use me to tell them they matter, they are not forgotten, they don’t have to feel defeated, and help see their potential in the kingdom and in their lives.

Ask yourself prayerfully, “Am I content, or am I complacent?” Invite the answer of God to invade you. Don’t feel bad if it’s the latter of the two, just use that as a jumping off point. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Now there’s a better word right there at the end of that scripture, “hope.” I like that better than complacent or even content! It’s full of such promise! That makes me smile, and that makes me think of Proverbs 15:13, “A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.” Someone needs my cheerful face. I’m gonna put it out there while I am on my daily mission.

Leslie Prince
Worshipping Voice