Overcoming Disappointment
Rev. Mark Eichler
Friday, November 3, 2006
There once was a little girl who really liked Beanie Babies. In fact, one day when she and her parents were at the store, she saw the newest Beanie Baby and thought, “If only I could have that Beanie Baby, my life would be fulfilled forever.” So she made her desires known to her parents.
So, her parents bought her the Beanie Baby. And guess what? She found contentment.
She grew up to be fulfilled, grateful and joyful. But the rest of her life didn’t go so well. She married a lousy guy with whom she had three kids. Then he left her, and her kids didn’t stick around much to help her out. And when she got old, she went on Social Security and hardly had any money.
But she never whined or cried or complained. Instead, she would think, “I remember that Beanie Baby. What great contentment and joy I found in it.” And it would bring her lasting satisfaction.
Now, that’s a silly story, isn’t it? We all know that real contentment and lifelong fulfillment don’t come from buying the latest Beanie Baby. Yet, so often this is how we act. We move on from the latest toy to new clothes to new cars to new houses in a never-ending search for fulfillment and contentment.
It’s a human thing of discontentment. Our culture is absolutely brilliant about exploiting that tendency toward dissatisfaction in us and promising us fulfillment.
So what are we to do? How can we overcome this tendency toward dissatisfaction and find contentment and fulfillment in life?
First, realize that God has a loving purpose for us. God loves us and didn’t want us to be lost in our sin. So, we can see God’s love as He sent Jesus to suffer and die on the cross and rise again to earn for us forgiveness and eternal life.
Just imagine what this means: We are loved so much by God that He would give the life of His Son as a ransom to save us! We are all special to God. He wants us to be with Him in heaven forever.
Second, remember that God lovingly provides for us not what we always want, but what He knows we need. Like any smart parent, God knows giving us everything we want isn’t necessarily good for us. In fact, one way to make us grumbling, complaining, discontented people is to give us everything we want.
But in His love for us, God provides what is good for us. He provides for all our needs.
Third, recognize that God lovingly is always with us. No matter what your circumstances, God does not abandon us. The Lord God is always with us. He does not forget us nor forsake us. He is always with us, providing for us.
Here’s the point of all of this: When disillusionment and disappointment and discontent seems to be taking over — and there are going to come times like that — let’s try to realize and remember and recognize that we have a loving God who is always with us, wanting to forgive us and provide for all our needs. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we’re His children. He’ll never leave us or forsake us. He’s always there with us.
He’s always there for us.
F “Sunday Sermon” is a forum for Emporia area ministers to share their sermons, thoughts and observations. This week’s sermon is from the Rev. Mark Eichler, pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Emporia.
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sestar (anonymous) says...
It would be wondderful to get a true dialog underway that might offer true faith rather than rhetoric to people. There is no way for any rational human to incorporate the psychology of a "God who loves us so" that he caused his "only" Son to suffer on a cross for some sense of our sins. Does anyone know what that involves? It is beyond any sense of barbarism and is merely what happened to rebels in that day. Your concept is not a God of love, and there is no way to sell that message to any conscious human. Is there a greater understanding of this historic event - yes! Is there a more compassionate, real and no less faithful understanding of this event - yes! But you will never get there wirth this age old "pablum" that was used to control far less educated people in other ages. Any one want to dialog about this? SeaSatr
November 27, 2006 at 1:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )