Contentment in Singleness

I needed this post today...

After having a really disappointing Monday, thanks to the year end review letters we received  at work, I am glad I came across this post my Mark Altrogge. Hope you are encouraged as well.

What Do You Think You Need To Be Satisfied?

April 21, 2014 by Mark Altrogge 

“Have you taken God for your happiness? Where does the desire of your heart lie? What is the source of your greatest satisfaction?… If God would give you your choice, as he did to Solomon, what would you ask? Go into the garden of pleasure, and gather all the fragrant flowers there; would these satisfy you? Go to the treasures of mammon, and to the trophies of honour; would any of these, would all of these satisfy you and make you to consider yourself happy?” — Joseph Alleine

If God is our source of happiness, then nothing can take our happiness from us. For nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. If we look to anything else in this world to satisfy us, eventually we will be disappointed, for nothing in this world lasts.
In Jeremiah 2:13 God says,
“My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

God is the fountain of living waters. He alone can satisfy our deepest needs. Any other wells we attempt to dig to satisfy our thirst will leak and leave us thirsty.Marriages get in trouble when one or both partners look for a “soul mate” – someone who can fulfill their every need. Someone who needs no maintenance on our part. Someone who will love us unconditionally and encourage us and not expect us to change. The Bible nowhere says that our wife or husband is our soul mate. Jesus is our only soul mate. He alone can fulfill our every true need. He loves us unconditionally. He does expect us to change – he transforms us into his own likeness. He alone can satisfy us. No human being can satisfy another human being.

Don’t look to your children to satisfy you. Don’t look to a career to satisfy you. Don’t think If only I could do THAT, or if only I had THAT, or if only I had a husband like THAT, then I’d be happy. Sorry but whatever THAT is, ultimately it is a broken cistern that can hold no water.
 Ps 16:4-6 says:
The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

If we run after “another god” – anything but Jesus to satisfy us – our sorrows will multiply. But when the Lord is our chosen portion, our cup, and beautiful inheritance, the lines fall to us in pleasant places.
Ask yourself today Am I finding all my contentment in God? If not, turn back to Jesus and ask him to satisfy you today with his love.

The Travails of Travel

Thanks to my inability to ride a bike or drive a car, I have always been dependent on the public transport. Buses in Pune are not a fun mode of transportation. There are no rush hours-I call them as rush day-coz the buses are packed at 6:30 in the morning too(Trust me I have seen them at that time)

As far as memory serves me right using the public transport has always been a continuous trial, and the Lord has allowed it. Every time I start feeling a little good about myself, God sovereignly throws in a  crowded bus ride to work or a cheating( meter) rickshaw guy. Yeah then I can see my sin even more clearly.

I remember struggling with an abusive tongue for the longest time while taking the buses and then realized I cant be singing praises to God  and yelling at the bus driver( for not stopping the bus) with the same mouth.

Something that helped was listening to Christian songs while I travel. That helped me focus on things  that are more important than these passing phases of life. I remember a friend of mine telling me that its not just what comes out of your mouth, but God is also concerned with your heart attitude.

So the situation as regards the travel has not changed, but God has helped in having a better attitude towards it :)