If you use Twitter, who do you follow? I follow Crossway Books. In late March, I volunteered to be one of 100 bloggers to review a book for them. And, boy, am I glad I did! This is the book:
"The Greener Grass Conspiracy: Finding Contentment On Your Side Of The Fence" by Stephen Altrogge
Did you know you're at war with a conspiracy?? The world, Satan, and even your own heart are trying to get you to believe the big, proverbial lie that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. But as Christians, we're called to contentment and Mr. Altrogge does a fabulous job, IMHO, of pointing out the fact that we can truly be content while on this Earth! It's a brutal war but with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can win and find ourselves like the woman who, eating only a little bread and water, threw her hands up in the air and claimed "All this and Jesus, too?!?" This book was hilarious at times -- left me literally laughing out loud and sharing passages with my husband and my 11 year old which is something I never do so that says a lot. One of my favorite passages hilariously points out that sometimes we view God as a "Divine Dentist". We know that going to the dentist is good for us but we don't particularly enjoy it, do we? And at times, this is how we view God. We know that He is sovereignly working everything out for our good but we often hunker down, waiting for the next bomb to drop. We really shouldn't do that...instead, we should count our blessings. Did you wake up this morning (obviously you did or you wouldn't be reading this!)? Think about how many people in the world didn't get that blessing.... Did you eat today? If you're living in America, it's likely you ate more today than someone in some other part of the world eats in a week -- or worse.... Even if your budget is tight, if you're not living on the streets, you have A LOT to be thankful for! Counting your blessings is one way to find true contentment but another point that Mr. Altrogge pointed out is that we need to remember that we have an empathetic Savior. This point was extremely convicting to me 'cause I have never quite thought of Jesus in this way. He suffered worse than we can ever imagine...if anyone can empathize with us in our suffering, Jesus can -- and He DOES! Praise God! So next time you're suffering, try to remember that Jesus knows exactly what you're going through and that He cares! One last point I'll share, then you'll have to go grab the book (and I highly recommend you do!). Another point to remember that will go a long way in helping us be content is that we're not of this world. This isn't our home. This world and it's inhabitants will disappoint us because we're not made for this world. Our glorious home awaits!
Oh, okay, I have to share one more point that I've already shared on my Facebook page -- complaining is like putting God on trial and accusing Him of abuse or abandonment. When we complain, it's like telling God that we don't agree with His plan for our life, that He doesn't really know what is best. We don't get what we want (or worse -- what we feel like we "deserve"), we complain, our level of contentment plummets, and God is not glorified. *ouch* This point has kept popping up in my head these past few days as I've found myself complaining. I'm prayerfully trying not to have a spirit of complaining which will be a looooong process, I'm afraid.
Thanks, Crossway, for letting me read this book!
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