What do you want the most out of this life...here on earth? What do you want the most from your relationships…your job…your retirement? What do you want the most from God? This was the beginning of this Sunday’s sermon. But I have to be honest – What happened over the weekend really does change things a bit. Parts of northern and western NC were hit with one of the worst hurricanes on record. This morning I looked at a few videos of before and after Hurricane Helene brought utter destruction to Lake Lure in Rutherford County, NC. Total destruction. Hundreds if not thousands of lives now forced to try to discover some kind of meaning in all this…and some kind of meaning in this present life. 

 Last Wednesday, in our midweek study, we discussed how joy and happiness are not really the same. Happiness is our response to certain circumstances in our lives. Joy is a seed that The Spirit of God plants in our hearts and it grows daily as we water it by denying ourselves and loving God with all that we are. One of the clips that I watched was of a mother who agreed to do an interview just a day or so after she held her young son’s hand for the last time. He and her parents were swept away in massive torrent of muddy water. I sat there amazed at how composed she was. But she was. I do not know if she knows Christ personally. But we all know that a peace (a calm) like that is not humanly possible. 

 So back to my original question. What are we looking for the most out of and from life here on earth – happiness…significance…meaning…purpose? Perhaps the question we should now be asking is – What does God want the most for us out of life – this life which HE has given to us? 

 This Sunday, Paul will be giving us the ‘keys’ to living a life of contentment. And the overall key is this – to choose to. On the surface, that can come across as not only impossible…it can even sound somewhat callous. Are we to be machines who just flip a switch on and off? The more I season in this life (my way of gently telling myself that I am aging) the more I realize that without The Spirit of God’s empowerment, I am and I can do – nothing. Yet, when I allow The Spirit of my God to flip my switch and empower me then I can do all things that God has purposed me to do because HE is the one who is empowering me to do it [Php 4:13]. Contentment and peace go hand-in-hand. Contentment is when I allow myself to come to the understanding that Jesus Christ is my all-in-all. Contentment is when I believe and accept what Paul is telling me – that I can do all things (God has purposed me to do) because Christ is my strength. 

 In another one of his letters Paul tells us that Christ Himself is our peace [Eph 2:14]. And the apostle John echoes this same truth in his Gospel [Jn 14:27; 16:33]. In the second half of Jn 14:27, John records Jesus’ words to His apostles and to all those who are His – Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. This is Jesus’ way of telling each of us – we do have a choice…a choice to rejoice. And that is the first key that Paul gives when it comes to living a life of contentment – choose to be joyful [Php 4:4]. 

 There are several other ‘keys’ that Paul gives to us when it comes to experiencing ongoing peace in this world that is full of many trials and storms. What is our responsibility when these storms of life do come? It’s not to rest in our own strength…our own abilities…our bank accounts. But it is to do what Jesus’ half-brother James says to do – consider it all joy when you experience many trials because God is there bringing to completion that which HE has started – our faith…in Christ alone [Jam 1:2-4].

 Please tune in this Sunday and next as we allow Paul through the empowering of the same Spirit that is in each of us who are in Christ to share with us The ‘Keys’ to Living a Life of Contentment [Php 4:4-9].