Being Content In All Situations
Before I got the job I have that pays me more than I care to admit, I was a very broke young woman. I think Family Force Five's Paycheck says it best that I was "broke as a joke" and that I was "still watching my movies on VHS". Okay it wasn't that bad, but I had Ramen noodles almost every night for dinner. I don't like Ramen anymore, but I was happy with being that poor. Yes I just said that I was happy with being poor. I felt and I still do that God provides me with whatever I need. Meaning food in my stomach, healthy water, and a roof over my head. Paul says it right when he says, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." (Phil 4:13) Materialism in America is like an epidemic. I blame the advertising industry because they show that consumers will be left out if they don't buy a certain product or service. What's up with that? God provides us with the things that we NEED. The rest of it is just fluff. I admit since I have more money than I used to that I buy fluff, but I also get rid of the excess fluff. You couldn't imagine what I got rid of. I had a full box, full garbage bag, and another grocery bag of stuff that I have accumulated. What's gotten into me? Short answer-consumerism, and my shopping addiction. I'll be the first to admit that I have a shopping addiction. I love shoes, clothes, and of course music. Now I know God has convicted me of this sin, the replacing His place with stuff. I am now striving to not be a typical American that is all about stuff. In Luke 12:33-34 it says "Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Don't let your heart be in materialistic things, let it be in God. Until next time rockers.....