The Joneses are Overrated (Proverbs 31 Ministries)

Wow! I sit here right now in amazement at what God just spoke to me!!!   I can't tell you how many times I have caught myself feeling robbed of contentment.. Lately I have caught myself looking at others & thinking what have I done so wrong that I don't deserve that too..  This could range from their home, to their clothes, to their car, to their friends, and the list goes on and on. Is that not just the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard? I don't deserve anything & don't deserve what God has blessed me with. Why can't I just be happy with what I have? Because I am human, I am spoiled, and often times what I think I can't live without is just a phase. 

I heard the song yesterday and here it often on the radio by Citizen Way Should've Been Me. A part says:
I live a good life, I love a great wife (in my case husband), our kids are beautiful, we have friends down the street. If I am so thankful why do I easily forget you died for all of this? These words hold true... I have a good life!! God promised us so much but he didn't promise it would always be an easy adventure. He promised he would always be there to hold us is what he promised!!  I love a great husband.. WOW I found a man who loves me even when I don't show it in return or I push him away because I had a bad day. My kids ARE BEAUTIFUL but more important they are HEALTHY PRAISE BE TO GOD! and we have friends down the street! I often think we never get invited to anything, or we don't have as many friends as so and so, etc.. but really we have been blessed with people that will forever be in our lives.   So with this being said how do I easily forget that Jesus died for all of this?

So then I check my email & I get daily emails from Proverbs 31 Ministries.. I SO recommend subscribing to this if you don't get it already!  The title of the blog today is "The Joneses Are Overrated" and it opens with Philippians 4:11-13 "For I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content-whethere well-fed of hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me."  Wow what a promise God gave me in this verse. He promised he will always strengthen me. 

The "Joneses" invade our homes and our thoughts several times a day which robs us of contentment and why? Because of comparisons. Comparisions always deal us a blow to contentment. When we see others owning, enjoying, or experiencing what we do not have, but wish we did, it may make us discontent. (Proverbs blog).   God has already prepared a place of contentment for us when the car breaks down, the bill are hard to meet, or even something like the kids acting out again. We find that place only when we take our eyes off the situation (and off facebook) and fix them upon our Lord Jesus Christ.  Tures contentment is not merely having what you want, it is wanting nothing more than what you already have.

A perfect comparision from the sermon yesterday the wise man built his house upon the rock & the foolish man built his house upon the sand. From the outside the homes appeared the exact same. They were magnificent and beautiful from the outside. Something in modern day we would dream to live in. But their foundations where different (sand vs rock).. Same holds true today. We can look at a house, or a person, or the life we "think" someone is living because on the outside it looks appealing like something in a dream but in reality we don't know what is hiding behind those 4 walls, or that smile, or that life.. I need to learn to be content in my little 1600 square foot house because that is the house that God provided for me. The house he saw was perfect and that he wanted us to have. Behind those 4 walls may not be a mansion but there are 5 people who love each other (not always shown), who love the Lord (not always shown), and have all they could ever possibly need if we would just allow ourselves to be content!