Enjoy What You Have Right Now
By Rick Warren
“Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little” (Philippians 4:11-12 NLT).
One reason so many of us are stressed out today is we’re rarely content with what we have. We always want more—more money, more pleasure, more power. We want more of just about everything.
The Bible shows us another way, though.
The apostle Paul writes in Philippians 4:11-12: “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little” (NLT).
Let’s be clear here. It’s not that Paul didn’t have ambition. He was probably one of the most ambitious people who has ever lived. He singlehandedly took the Gospel all across the Roman Empire.
But he had learned contentment. Ambition and contentment have nothing to do with each other. You can have both.
Contentment isn’t laziness, complacency, apathy, or fatalism.
Contentment is enjoying what you have right now rather than waiting for something else to happen so you can be happy.
It doesn’t mean you don’t want to make progress. It doesn’t mean you don’t have goals.
It just means you’re happy with what you have.
Too often we’ve bought into wrongheaded myths that advertisers have taught us, like these:
- Having more will make me happy.
- Having more will make me more important.
- Having more will make me more secure.
None of those statements are true. They’re all lies—and they keep us from the lasting peace we long for.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 4:6: “It is better to have only a little, with peace of mind, than be busy all the time with both hands, trying to catch the wind” (GNT).
Peace of mind beats relentlessly chasing more every single time.
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God’s Big Plans for Me Storybook Bible and Integrating God’s Word Into My Life CD Message
Help the children in your life experience God’s Word!
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” –Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV)
One of the greatest ways to fulfill the Great Commission is to share Jesus and God’s Word with the children who God has placed in your life.
And there’s now a great tool to help do that — Pastor Rick Warren’s brand-new book, God’s Big Plans for Me Storybook Bible.
This 223-page, full-color, beautifully illustrated, hardcover children’s version of God’s Word shares key Bible stories along with the 40 foundational principles from the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life. And it’s written in a way that’s easy for even the youngest readers to understand.
The God’s Big Plans for Me Storybook Bible will help the children in your life . . .
• Experience Bible stories coming to life with child-friendly language
• Connect deeply with Scripture through engaging illustrations
• Grow to love Jesus through lessons targeted specifically for them
• Discover God’s plans and purposes for their life
God’s Big Plans for Me Storybook is our gift to thank you for your donation below. And as an act of our appreciation, we’ll also send you Pastor Rick’s CD message, Integrating God’s Word Into My Life.
So when you give below, be sure to request your copy of God’s Big Plans for Me Storybook to bless a child in your life — and Integrating God’s Word Into My Life for yourself.
Thank you for giving today to help more people learn, love, and live God’s Word through Daily Hope!
This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
You can listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.
