He will never leave you

About three weeks ago, I saw the Jonas Brothers in concert with my best friend Hannah. This was a huge deal for us. They were our childhood band.

They fit all the marks: Catchy, meaningful song lyrics, funny, attractive, and expressed their faith in Christ. 

The concert was amazing. It brought back all the childhood memories and their new songs got us so excited and pumped for their new album.

Leaving Comerica Theatre was so bittersweet. We just experienced one of the greatest comeback concerts ever and now we had to leave, but we'd never forget how great it was. 

Yet now, three weeks later, the emotion we felt isn't as intense as it was that night. Does that mean that we didn't ever go to the concert? Of course not! It just goes to show that our feelings often come and go based on current experience.

Asking Jesus Christ into your life is far better than any concert. You've begun a lifelong relationship with the God who created everything!

In John 14:23, Jesus says, "All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them." God wants to come into your life and make something extraordinary out of it. God has begun a process of molding your character to become more like that of Jesus Christ. Within this lifelong process will be some good feelings, but more often we won't have -- or want -- a continual, intense excitement.

The wonder of getting to know someone as loving and forgiving as Jesus Christ has similarities to the other relationships that we enjoy. There is the initial experience of meeting a person, followed by months and years of growing to appreciate his or her friendship and influence. 

Anything worthwhile takes time.

1 John 5:12, comforts us in saying that "Whoever has the Son, has life." Once you have genuinely chosen to follow Jesus, you can never lose him. As Jesus once said, "No one can snatch them away from me." (John 10:28) 

Them includes you. He will always be there to guide you and love you even during times of struggle and strife. Knowing this truth should outweigh your tendency to base your relationship with God on your up-and-down feelings. If you feel angry or happy or sad or confused, God is always with you, always by your side.

Contentment

What does it take to be content?

What do you find your contentment in? Do we truly NEED the things we think we need? In all truth, we only need one thing.

In a recent trip to the craft store, Hobby Lobby, I came across something interesting.

Depicting two different views: Through the lens of this world and through the lens of Jesus Christ. This world is all about me, me, me, take, take, take, while Jesus gave us a different view.

Let's take a look at the things we have: a home, clothes, food, some way to read this very blog right now, etc. God gave us these things, "Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. "  1 Timothy 6:6-7

The things we have come from God and he is sovereign. As easily as we got these things, God can also easily take these things away.

This world we live in is in constant motion, always changing. This iPhone I hold in my hand was replaced by the iPhone 5 in what seemed like only weeks after I got it. Hebrews 13:8 says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is constant and never failing and has a 100% success rate! We don't have to constantly upgrade to something better because He is the greatest.

This world is so deceiving, Satan lurking in every corner. Commercials and ads air 24/7 about "taking time for yourself." I think this is such a crime that we, even as Christians have started to believe that this is okay. God didn't say to serve yourself? He said to serve others! Especially without expecting anything in return because we should be rich enough in our passion and love for Jesus that we are content with that! He promised that as long as we trust in Him, He will give us everything we need.

True contentment lies in how rich we are in Jesus, and that's worth more than anything this world can and will offer.

“If they listen and obey God, they will be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives. All their years will be pleasant." Job 36:11 NLT