Two-minute read.
Contentment, in today’s verse, means “a mind that is contented with its situation in life” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary). Our thoughts lead to our contentment. We can wallow in self-pity, or we can use gratitude to help us find the joy of the Lord. Where our minds go, everything else goes. If we allow our thoughts to follow a rabbit trail of despair, they will lead us into dark pits. But if we focus our minds on things above, we’ll discover hope.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Colossians 3:2
True godliness develops when we set our minds on things above, instead of things of this world. By relying on God’s promises, we’ll focus on the hope of His word rather than on the brokenness around us. A friend comes to mind, experiencing extreme pain, stuck in a hospital bed, the doctor’s unsure of how to treat her, who put on air pods, played her worship playlist, and raised her hands to God, singing His praises. She set her mind on things above, and not the earthly things surrounding her. As a result, she found contentment and true wealth, despite her bleak circumstances.
Memorizing scripture and writing it on your heart will help you focus your mind on things above. The more time and effort you put into your relationship with the Lord, the more you will experience true contentment. God doesn’t lie; He tells us we will have struggles in this world, but Jesus overcame them on the cross. We need not fear, nor fret. Everything we need we have in the Savior.
Playing golf, we had to wait for the players ahead of us to move before we could tee off. On an unseasonably 70-degree day in January, the sun shone bright in the blue skies. Deciding to rest, I sat on the hill of the tee box, then lay back and looked up at the beautiful sky above me, white puffy clouds floating along without a care in the world. And I thought, “When you’re in the pit, you have no place to look but up.”
Set your mind on things above. If you find yourself in the pit today, look up. Thank God for His presence in your life, His love for you, and the grace that never ends. Focus your thoughts on the Lord’s promises. Search the internet for scriptures that apply to your circumstances, then cling to them. As you begin to praise the Savior, meditate on His word, and focus your eyes above, you find a heart filled with gratitude and the true wealth of godly contentment.
Journal Questions:
Where do you tend to focus your thoughts?
Which one of God’s promises can you cling to today?
How do you find contentment by looking up?
Application:
Thankfulness quiets comparison.
