Contentment and the Ache Within

“God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they can find rest in you.” This is Contentment and the Ache Within.

Augustine wrote these words on contentment long before instant text messaging and social media. 

The truth remains; you were made by God, for God. Yet you live in a world that says we can double-tap, swipe-right, thumbs up our way to happiness. The problem is instant gratification does not equal happiness. Your very essence is designed to find rest and wholeness in your Creator. While the world says contentment is a state of happiness or satisfaction we know there is more.  

Reverand Bob Ragan, a member of the Regeneration Ministries team, is on the podcast to unpack the meaning of contentment and 4 ways to develop it in your own life.  

Come as you are. “Becoming Whole” is inviting you to discover how to satisfy the ache within.

Highlights:

The world's idea of contentment is based on my emotions and my environment, contentment is based on a set of conditions and our world is in a state of flux

The Holy Spirit shifts our focus out of this temporal satisfaction  and says there’s something more

When we feel that ache of longing for it to continue, that actually is God’s way of helping to increase our hearts capacity for what is coming

Homework:

Gratitude is powerful for shaping our brains, our hearts, and our actions. The road to contentment begins with gratitude.

What do you pay attention to? What’s wrong? Your fears? LOOK AROUND TO FIND SOMETHING TO BE GRATEFUL FORGratitude moments - Make time every day for Moments of Gratitude. Ask yourself, What can I thank God for right now? What good am I seeing?Practice  - send out text messages/emails to 5 people telling them why you’re grateful for them.

Resources/Extras:

"God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you." Augustine

"Nothing makes God more supreme and more central in worship than when people are utterly persuaded that nothing - not money or prestige or leisure or family or job or health or sports or toys or friends - nothing is going to bring satisfaction to their sinful, guilty, aching hearts besides God." – John Piper

 "There's a difference between knowing God and knowing about God. When you truly know God, you have the energy to serve Him, boldness to share Him, and contentment in Him. - J.I. Packer

“Fill these Hearts: God, Sex and the Universal Longing” by Christopher West

Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.”

“The loss of joy is the warning sign of discontentment knocking at our heart.” C.S. Lewis

 "I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest, and most precious thing in all thinking." George Mac

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If you are in the Baltimore Area, Regeneration is happy to invite you to our 2024 Dessert Fundraiser, Spark: One Small Thing Leads to So Much More. This annual gathering is a highlight for so many as we gather for tasty desserts, heartfelt worship, vulnerable and powerful stories, and an opportunity to partner with what Jesus is doing through Regeneration. Click Here for more info or to register.