Has anyone ever told you that you can gain a lot by losing? Well, you can!
I know, I know, you’re probably thinking I mean gaining a lot by losing weight. But that’s not what this is about. Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I’m talking about the biblical principle that Jesus gave us… how we can gain by losing our life for his sake. And I know someone who inspires me to do just that every day.
Her name is Cecile and she has lived in a wheelchair many more years than I have, plus she resides in a nursing home. I must tell you about the time I went to visit her: when I wheeled into Cecile’s room in this little nursing home, I was struck by the incredibly small size of her living alcove – just a little bit of space, just enough room for a bed and chest of drawers in the corner by a window. That’s all the nursing home allotted her. Yet I looked around and I couldn’t help but notice that with photos, a flower arrangement, a colorful afghan, and a plaque on the wall above her headboard, Cecile has carved out that little tiny space and made it look like and feel like a real home. She lost a lot when she went into that nursing home… she gave up a lot, yet oh how much contentment she has gained just by scaling down her heart’s desires in order to fit into a small, cozy nest. And that’s what she’s made it – a small nest out of a tight, cramped space. She doesn’t mind it at all – she’s truly happy with her circumstances.
Cecile is a living example of 1 Timothy 6:7 where we are all – not just people in nursing homes like Cecile – but we’re all reminded that, “We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” Oh, if only we could remember that powerful little verse the next time we think we really must have that next new kitchen appliance, or that new car, or a bigger, better house. Cecile is a reminder to me that we can take nothing out of this world into the next – only the character built within us that reflects the God-given blessing of contentment with what we have.
Gaining contentment means equalizing your desires to match your circumstances. Cecile, at one time, may have wanted a large, spacious living area, but since that wasn’t in the realm of possibility in the nursing home, she made the wise choice, she “subtracted” that desire and, by God’s grace, adjusted her desires to fit her circumstances. Boy, that’s a good way of living. The world doesn’t do it this way. The world will have you trying to improve your circumstances to match your desires, whether it’s health, money, beauty, or power.
Oh, but it is so much wiser to subdue your heart to match whatever situation you find yourself in. Christians may not be able to rule their life circumstances, but they can rule their hearts. The old Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs wrote, “Here lies the bottom and root of all contentment: when there is an evenness and proportion between our hearts and our circumstances.”
You know, contentment and patience go hand-in-hand. Cecile would tell us that. And it’s why I want to remind you today is your last day to ask for your free copy of the booklet I wrote on this subject. Just click on joniandfriendsradio.org and ask for the booklet Patience, and you’ll be on your way to subduing your heart’s desires to match your circumstances. By the way, you might want to give a copy of this special booklet to someone you know in a nursing home… someone like Cecile. Remember, you may not always be able to rule your life circumstances, but you can rule your heart and its desires. It’s a lesson today from my friend Cecile.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
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