The Burden of Discontent

I have been reading a book by Max Lucado (love that guy!) called Traveling Light. I just had to share what I read last night from chapter 4.
Lucado is talking about Psalm 23:1 'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want' and he explains it in a way I had never thought of before. Lucado says that often we live in the 'prision of want'. The prisioners are 'in want'. "They want something. They want something bigger. Nicer. Faster. Thinner. They want. He goes on to say that "they don't want much. They just want one. One new job. One new car. One new house. One new spouse." But Lucado tell us that the psalmist David lets us in on a secret- the secret of satisfaction. 'The Lord is my shepherd. I shall now want." "David has found the pasture where discontent goes to die. It's as if he is saying, 'What I have in God is great than what I don't have in my life."
Lucado continues to remind us of two biblical truths. "Your stuff isn't yours. Ask any coroner. No one takes anything with him." Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand". Eccles. 5:15 NIV
And then Lucado hits the nail on the head when he says "All that stuff- it's not yours. And you know what else about all that stuff? It's not you. Who you are has nothing to do with the clothes you wear or the car you drive. Jesus said, "Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot" Luke 12:15. Heaven does not know you as the fellow with the nice suit or the woman with the big house or the kid with the new bike. Heaven knows your heart. "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart". 1 Samual 16:7 NIV. When God thinks of you, he may see your compassion, your devotion, your tenderness or quick mind, but he doesn't think of your things" (Max Lucado- Traveling Light).

So I challenged myself today- I took a mental picture of myself minus all my 'things'. Me-standing before the Lord with NOTHING but any compassion, devotion, mercy, love, and heart that I might have shared. I took a long hard look at what God see's in ME daily. I challenge you to do the same thing... What does your mental picture look like today? What does Jesus see when he looks at you- minus your stuff?