SWHW Bible Reading Plan: October 2021Sample

Top Takeaway from Lauren Diggs:

We moved over the summer and being a military family for nearly 21 years, the move was nothing new. It hit harder though. And for the first few weeks after we moved, I was in a funk. I kept crying out to the Lord for answers and direction and what to do next. I didn’t get the answers or the direction I was pursuing, but He wasn’t silent. 

It wasn’t until after a conversation with a friend that I realized He was showing me who He was, instead of telling me the how, why, when, and where. He was showing me that He is my sustainer, He is my comfort, and He is a friend. And essentially, I’d been telling God that who He is, wasn’t enough and I needed more. I wrestled with wanting more and that revealed my pride and lack of contentment in Him. 

Aaaah, contentment. 

Do you cringe at this word but at the same time want to surrender all you are to it? Those two feelings are so opposite that it seems like we should feel one way or another but not both, right? However, I believe contentment is meant to make us wrestle a little (or a lot). 

Why? Because that wrestling reveals our idols. It reveals our pride. It reveals our lack of faith. 

“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.” 1 Timothy 6:6-7

Maybe you’re wrestling to be content with where God has you in your career. Or maybe you’re struggling to be content with the size of your family. Maybe, just maybe, you’re wrestling with being content in what God is showing you about Himself instead of the answers that you keep pursuing. So what do we do when we’re wrestling between being content and pursuing more? Well, a few more verses down in 1 Timothy 6:11b, we’re told to “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.” 

We change our pursuit. We have all we will ever need in Christ, but if our pursuit isn’t for Him alone, we will always be driven to search for more. Contentment doesn’t come when we get what we chased after unless what we’re chasing after is Jesus. And even then, we must choose it. For He is our “great gain.”  Nothing more and nothing less.

Dear Heavenly Father, I love You so much. Thank You for always showing me who You are and reminding me that all I will ever need is wrapped up in You. Forgive me when my heart is not content in that truth and seeks after more. Help me to pursue You above all else and to be content with whatever comes my way. My great gain is You -- nothing more, nothing less. I love You, Jesus. Amen.