House Of The Rising Sun

by SEDDON, J. W. | Category: N/a | Jan 2008

The story is told of a young man whose house overlooked a valley. Some mornings, just as the sun was rising, he could see across to a house whose windows shone like gold. He longed to live there and became so dissatisfied with his own house that, early one morning, he packed his bags and made his way across the broad divide.

The journey took him most of the day and he arrived at his dream house just as the sun was setting, only to discover that there were no gold windows; the house was more dismal than his own. Sadly, he looked back to where he had come from and there was his own house with windows shining like gold as they caught the rays of the setting sun.

Those of us in the western world are living in societies where discontentment has never been so rife. Vast amounts of money are spent on materials to provide us with comfortable homes and luxuries that our forbears thirty or forty years ago never dreamed about. Leisure facilities are designed to ease the pressures and stress of life and to give a measure of contentment that will 'make life worth living'.

Discontentment clouds one's vision of the Saviour and His will for us and robs us of the joy of the Lord and the appreciation that He alone ...

�satisfies the longing soul.

And fills the hungry soul with goodness� (Ps. 107:9).

True and lasting contentment is expressed in the words of Paul to Timothy when he wrote, �Now Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content� (1 Tim. 6:6-8).

Contentment does not come naturally to us; it is something we have to learn and it can often be a very hard lesson indeed. Paul writing to the Philippians said, �I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me� (Phil. 4:11-13).

With this assurance, whatever our circumstances might be, we can rest, like the poet who wrote,

Enough! This covers all my wants,

And so I rest.

For what I cannot, He can see,

And in His care I saved shall be,

For ever blest. (Joseph Parker)

(Bible quotations from NKJV)

SEDDON, J. W. | Jan 2008
N/a