I have ‘learned’ that no matter how firmly I have ‘decided’ to feel a certain way—some things just have to be learned, some over a period of time, and some the hard way (through hard times).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don’t know how much we really gain through good times, that makes us better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is the measure of better, inside ?
More and more, I think it is contentment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, contentment—is it learned or decided ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
See what the Bible says,
“I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.”
—–Paul<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What does this—‘learned’ or ‘decided’—have to do with following Jesus ?
Paul’s testimony tells his answer:
“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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We decide<\/span> to follow Jesus, then we learn<\/span> stuff the rest of our lives—stuff we had no idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Call on Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you did not know.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have ‘learned’ that no matter how firmly I have ‘decided’ to feel a certain way—some things just have to be learned, some over a period of time, and some the hard way (through hard times). I don’t know how much we really gain through good times, that makes us better. What is the measure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2,4,7,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educational","category-faith_based","category-financial","category-inspire_lifter","category-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6786"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6786"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6788,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6786\/revisions\/6788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}