{"id":6865,"date":"2020-11-08T20:02:50","date_gmt":"2020-11-08T10:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6865"},"modified":"2020-11-09T09:54:11","modified_gmt":"2020-11-08T23:54:11","slug":"contentment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/contentment\/","title":{"rendered":"Contentment"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Contentment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Fr Antonios Kaldas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally seen on Fr Antonios Kaldas blog site, Jan\n23, 2009.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Life will always have its ups and downs, as I am\nquite sure you know by now. One of my favourite passages in the Bible is the\nbit that comes before the famous verse: \u201cI can do all things through\nChrist who strengthens me\u201d<\/em>. It reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philippians 4:11-13
\nNot that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am,\nto be content:
\nI know how to be abased, and I know how to abound.
\nEverywhere and in all things
\nI have learned both to be full and to be hungry,
\nboth to abound and to suffer need.
\nI can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

St Paul says a lot of things like that, and it\nalways strikes me that that is the only way a human being can be truly\ninvincible. When your treasure is in Heaven, no one can take it away from you,\nand no earthly troubles can take away your joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find this to be one of the ways I can tell how\nsincere my faith in Christ is at any given time. If tribulations come along and\nI find myself disturbed by them and restless, it is a sure sign that there is\nsomething wrong in my relationship with God. It is a message for me to turn\nback to Him in abject repentance and implore Him for His mercy and forgiveness,\nand His aid in my weakness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, we need to distinguish between what is a\npurely human reaction to life and what is a spiritual state. As humans, our\nbrains are made of cells and chemicals and electrical impulses, and sometimes\nthese physical systems run ahead of our conscious, spiritual mind. Our reaction\nto pain is a case in point. A person can be totally and utterly convinced that\nthe needle the doctor is about to poke into her skin is for her own good, and\nwill not hurt that much, and yet, she may still flinch and sweat and feel her\nheart race at the sight of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human brains can sometimes run off on their own\ninto anxiety, or depression, or fear, or anger; all by themselves. So what is\nthe difference between a Christian and a non-Christian? The Christian doesn\u2019t\nsuddenly become super-human and beyond human physical instincts and frailty.\nEven the Lord Christ Himself, when He became human, suffered this kind of\nreaction in the Garden of Gethsemane. That is what it means to be human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to be Christian means to subject the body to\nthe spirit. In Gethsemane, after the weeping and pain came surrender and peace.\nFor the Christian, after the internal battle with the flesh comes surrender to\nGod\u2019s will, and all that this surrender bestows. Love, Joy, Peace. The fruits\nof the Holy spirit (Galatians 5:22ff) are the gift of God to His children.\nThese are fruits that are practical treasures \u2013 not treasures to be locked up\nin a safe and never seen, but treasures that transform our lives daily and\nbring fulfilment and contentment to us, we humans whose instincts and desires\nmight never allow us to experience true contentment otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To follow in the path of Christ is to find this\ntrue contentment, in whatever state one is. \u201cIf you love Me,\u201d <\/em>He\nsaid, \u201cYou will keep My commandments\u201d<\/em>. Sinners and tax collectors\nwho loved Him in humility and offered a genuine repentance found acceptance and\nforgiveness with Christ. Their lives were transformed and Love, Joy and Peace\nbecame their treasure. The Chief Priests, Scribes and Pharisees practiced a\nlegalistic obedience to God, and yet were always willing to disobey Him in\ntheir hearts, seeking their own wills above God\u2019s, trusting to their own wisdom\nrather than simply obeying the Truth of God. You will recall what Christ said\nto them\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True contentment is never found in one\u2019s external\nsituation, for that can never be perfect so long as we dwell on earth, nor\nshould we expect it to be. Nor should we set our hopes on making our lives\nperfect in this world. No, true contentment comes from winning the battle of\nthe ego within, from sincere surrender to God, unconditionally and totally. It\nbegins inside, and works its way out to one\u2019s external life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the seed of Surrender that bears the Fruit of\nthe Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Original blog available at – http:\/\/www.frantonios.org.au\/2009\/01\/23\/contentment\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contentment By Fr Antonios Kaldas Originally seen on Fr Antonios Kaldas blog site, Jan 23, 2009. Life will always have its ups and downs, as I am quite sure you know by now. One of my favourite passages in the Bible is the bit that comes before the famous verse: \u201cI can do all things through … Continue reading “Contentment”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[465],"class_list":["post-6865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-contentment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6865"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6871,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865\/revisions\/6871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}