"If you know these things." John 13:17
If you want God's best, do not just think about how to invest your money, think about how to invest your life. Jesus said, "If you know these things...happy...are you if you...do them." Living this way means:
- Making time for friends and loved ones. "Let no one seek his own, but each...the other's well being." [1 Corinthians 10:24]. George Eliot wrote: "Oh, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away."
- Giving thanks. If you cannot be grateful for what God has given you, look around you and be grateful for what He has protected you from. The enemy does not have to steal anything from you, just make you take it for granted. "From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another" [John 1:16]. The excitement of a new car or a salary increase soon passes, but anytime you stop to count your blessings you start feeling better.
- Practicing contentment. A gardener who had tried everything to get rid of a wide spread plant of the composite family having yellow flower heads and deeply toothed, edible leaves wrote to the Department of Agriculture for help. "What can I try next?" he asked. "Try getting used to them!" came the reply. In life, you get what you focus on! That is why Paul writes, "Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise" [Philippians 4:8].
