learning to see

I went on quite long last night in the evening service. I probably shouldn't preach so long, but I get carried away with things that I really connect with. yesterday we wrestled with Matthew 6 where Jesus talks about possessions and money and worry. Here is a summary of some of my thoughts on this passage:

Where does "thank you" fit into your life?

Common opinion suggest that we say Thank You when we get something. And we get things because we want it. And we want things because we feel that something is missing in our lives. So it's a basic discontent that leads to acquisition that seeks to fulfill the void and bring about contentment.

Except, experience shows that acquisition doesn't take away our discontent. We continue to live with discontentment because things don't aleviate discontentment. Dis-contentment is exactly that - a lack of contentment. What we need is not more things, but more contentment!

Thinking that acqisition will aleviate our discontent leads to a Downward Spiral of Discontent. We feel that something's missing, so we look to find something to take away the longing, and when we get it, there's still the longing, so we go looking for something else to fulfill our deepest human need...

Contentment is simply defines as "not wanting". To learn contentment we need to Practice Contentment. We could start with a simple prayer: "Lord, thank you. You have given me all I need."

Starting with Words of Thankfulness leads us into an upward spiral: the Growing Clarity of Contentment. Saying Thank You opens our eyes. We are given new eyes to see the world and we begin to see the blessings. We begin to see all of life as a blessing! This leads to a greater sense of Gratitude - we recognise how blessed we are, and so we say Thank You... and so the cycle grows and Gratitude begins to take root in our lives.



I offered Four ideas for Practicing Contentment:

1. Give thanks (as a way of life, not a response to the blessing)
2. Spend time with people who manage without something you take for granted – which brings into sharp contrast the relative blessings you enjoy. [like the Aurora Outreach]
3. Acknowledge your mortality. “do you take your life for granted?” Death helps us to grasp the futility of trusting things to bring us contentment.
4. Live and appreciate the present. As Jesus says: “Tomorrow will have enough worries of it’s own.”

Afternote:
Someone came up to me after the service and suggested that my sermon had missed the key teaching of the passage. This person suggested that I didn't comment on Jesus words in Matthew 6 where Jesus says: "Seek first his kingdom, and his rightoueness, and all these things will be given to you as well." They felt that I had spoken comfortable and charming words but not challenged the congregation with the life-changing challenge of Jesus to leave "the world" behind and make a decision for salvation through a relationship with Jesus Christ ("his kingdom, and his righteousness"). I will give these comments some thought this week as I reflect further on my sermon.

While I may not agree with the person's comments, I do think that it's important not to think that a preacher speaks from an absolute position of knowing. I often drive home wondering if I did a passage of scripture justice. If you ever drive home thinking that the preacher didn't quite get it right, that's ok - we encourage you to speak to us so that we can work the message out together!