Daily Devotional For Tuesday, August 5, 2024

Today is Terrific Tuesday and I pray you are able to make the most of this day. Some of you may already be waiting for the weekend to get here. Waiting is something we do a lot today. We wait in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. We wait to be seated and served at a restaurant. We wait for medical tests to return. We wait in traffic for lights to change and traffic to move. We wait anxiously in a hospital waiting room to learn from the surgeon how the surgery went on a loved one. There is a web site that has research that says this is how much time we wait:

• on average of 20 minutes a day for the bus or train
• 32 minutes whenever we visit a doctor
• 28 minutes in security lines whenever we travel
• 21 minutes for a significant other to get ready to go out
• 13 hours annually waiting on hold for a customer service
• 38 hours each year waiting in traffic
• those living in Big cities wait in traffic more than 50 hours annually

Their conclusion is we spend approximately 6 months of their lives waiting in line for things. The average person spends about 43 days on hold with automated customer service in their lifetime (Source: https://logisticsmgepsupv.wordpress.com/2017/04/04/how-much-time-of-an-average-life-is-spent-waiting/). The Apostle Paul put it this way in Philippians 4:12-13, “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. (13) For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (NLT). 

Those of us who are committed Christ followers and disciples are waiting expectantly for Jesus’ Second Return. We are waiting for the day when God wraps all this up. Evil and the devil are defeated, the devil and his demons are cast into hell and we live here on a new earth. But until that happens and while we wait on the Lord, guess what? He is waiting on you too. The Bible says in Isaiah 40:31, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (ESV). 

Meaning, whatever God wants you to do for all He has done for you, He will equip you with the strength, energy, wisdom, skills, talents, knowledge and experience to do it. He is not going to throw you to the “lions” to be devoured, but He will place you among people who are spiritually hungry for you to feed them lovingly with the Bread of Life — Jesus Christ. 

There are many people who attend church who say they are “waiting” on the perfect day to begin serving the Lord. Many people say they are waiting to have more money so they do not worry about their finances. We say we are waiting until we have fewer or less demanding commitments so we will have more time. 

Paul was well educated, so we can assume he grew up in a prosperous family. But he also lived through seasons when he was just another hard-working man who earned an income by making tents. No matter his circumstances—whether he had “more” or “less”—he never stopped telling people about Jesus, even after he was imprisoned for that very thing. Don’t wait for a perfect day to arrive when it will be convenient to serve the Lord. Wherever you are today, say “yes” to what God puts in front of you. He will give you the strength to do it and bless you for it.

Paul talks about contentment. It is my opinion that contentment is highly prized and desired, but is an elusive virtue. Contentment can only come from having a growing and personal relationship to Jesus Christ. “Sit at His feet” as a disciple. Such people trust God’s sovereign will and purpose for their lives. Yet, there are others who call themselves Christians who search for contentment in other things — money, possessions, positions, power, prestige, career, a substance (addiction) and freedom from all stress and anxiety. You can never have real contentment apart from Christ. A puritan by the name of Jeremiah Burroughs (1599 — 1646) wrote this about contentment:

“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition” (The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (Source: Reprint—Banner of Truth, 1964], p. 19).

In our house we are primarily Apple product users. We have iPhones, iPads, Apple computers and laptops. And as I write this, I get numerous emails a day from Apple fanatics about how they are “waiting” for the next iPhone, the next iWatch, and the new MacBook Pro to come out. As these people wait, they are speculating through rumors and leaks what improvements will be made in hopes that the improvements of updates they have been lobbying Apple with are in these next released products. The Bible has some things to say about contentment:

• John the Baptist said to some soldiers who asked him how to manifest genuine repentance, “Be content with your wages” (Luke 3:14). 
• To Timothy, Paul wrote, “If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content” (1 Tim. 6:8).
• A thought echoed by the writer of Hebrews: “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have” (Heb. 13:5). 
• Paul was even “well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake” (2 Cor. 12:10), because he knew that the “godliness” produced by those trials “actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment” (1 Tim. 6:6). 

The Bible not only identifies contentment as a virtue, but also prescribes it as a command. The Apostle Paul says in Philippians 4:12, "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” (NESV). Meaning, Paul learned through experience and spiritual maturity how to be content no matter what. In verse 12 he lets us know he has experienced poverty and hunger and he learned how to live with meager things having come from a wealthy family. He also knew how to be content with wealth and plenty.

In verse 13 he writes, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (ESV). Pastor and author John MacArthur writes this about verse 13:

“The words “I can do” is the Greek New Testament word [ἰσχύω;, ischuo] and it means “to be strong,” “to have power,” or “to have resources.” It is variously translated as “overpowered” (Acts 19:16), “prevailing” (Acts 19:20), and “effective” (James 5:16). The Greek text emphasizes the word translated all things (a reference to physical needs; cf. vv. 11–12) by placing it first in the sentence. Paul was strong enough to endure anything through Him who strengthen[ed] him (cf. 1 Tim. 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:17). The apostle does not, of course, mean that he could physically survive indefinitely without food, water, sleep, or shelter. What he is saying is that when he reached the limit of his resources and strength, even to the point of death, he was infused with the strength of Christ. 

He could overcome the most dire physical difficulties because of the inner, spiritual strength God had given him. In the words of Isaiah 40:29-31, "He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (NASB). God’s power that indwells believers is far more than sufficient to strengthen and sustain them in any trial. Contentment belongs to those who confidently trust in that power rather than in their own resources” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Philippians,” pp. 302-303).

I think we can all benefit from the words of Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs again:

“A Christian finds satisfaction in every circumstance by getting strength from another, by going out of himself to Jesus Christ, by his faith acting upon Christ, and bringing the strength of Jesus Christ into his own soul, he is thereby enabled to bear whatever God lays on him, by the strength that he finds from Jesus Christ. . . . There is strength in Christ not only to sanctify and save us, but strength to support us under all our burdens and afflictions, and Christ expects that when we are under any burden, we should act our faith upon him to draw virtue and strength from him” (Source: Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, p. 63).

It is important to note that only those who live lives of obedience to God’s will can count on His power to sustain them. Those whose continued sin has led them into the pit of despair cannot expect God to bring them contentment from their circumstances. In fact, He may even add to their difficulties to chasten them and bring them to repentance. If we desire to experience contentment as the Apostle Paul did, then we must live as he lived — totally dependent on Jesus Christ through discipleship, obedience, faith, and serving Him.

I find it interesting that when the Apostle Paul wrote the letter of Philippians, he was under house arrest for an indefinite period of time. He was likely chained to a Roman soldier, paying for his own rented house and enduring a total lack of privacy and freedom. In Philippians 4:11, he writes this: “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content” (ESV).  The Greek New Testament word Paul uses for content is [αὐτάρκη, autarkes]. 

This word can mean “self-sufficient” (Source: Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament And Other Early Christian Literature, p. 152).  Pastor and author John Stott sheds this light on the word “content”: 

“Some Greek philosophers took this to mean not only being “independent of circumstances” but also finding the source of contentment in ourselves” (Source: John R. Stott, The Message of 1 Timothy And Titus, p. 149).

Paul wasn’t promoting self-sufficiency but Christ-sufficiency. He rested in Christ’s provision and timing, not his own ability to exert energy and improve his circumstances and outlook. It is clear to me that Paul had learned contentment through the years. He had endured extremes and learned how to adjust and be content. His life was a roller coaster of rapidly changing circumstances. Regardless of the extremes such as sleeping on the hard ground hungry outside in the cold to sleeping comfortably in a bed in a warm home with a full stomach, Paul never forgot that God alone is the source of all his needs. 

Questions To Consider

1. What is something you are waiting on God for in your life? What is something you know God is waiting on you for Him? What is holding you back?
2. Why do you think so many people never really experience genuine contentment? Do you?
3. What is something in your life you wish you had more contentment with or over? Why? 
4. What extremes have you had to endure and did you trust God to help you through them whether it was in need or in plenty?
5. How do you look around to see where and how God can use you to impact the lives of others, especially for the lost, or do you primarily see how you can serve yourself? 

Scripture To Meditate On: Philippians 4:11b, “ have learned in whatever situation I am to be content” (ESV). 

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, it is so easy to get caught up in this culture of materialism and that I lose my focus on learning and being content with what I already have now. Lord, and when I am waiting, I typically do not think how to help others or even pray for others. Help me to see people as You see them — lost sheep without a shepherd. Help me to use my “waiting times” to wait on You to tell me how to impact others whether it is waiting room or in traffic or at a restaurant or somewhere else. If the average person spends 6 months of their life waiting, I do not want this to be wasted time, but worthwhile time for You. I love Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside!—Pastor Kelly