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| (Greenfield Village, Dearborn) |
An “If.. then…” statement is a conditional statement. For example:
If it rains, then the ground gets wet. On the condition of rain, the
ground gets wet. A conditional statement is also called a hypothetical
statement. It’s a hypothesis. It’s hypothetical, not actual. It describes a
possible state of affairs, not an actual state of affairs.
Human longing is about unfulfilled desire. If only I could be/have/achieve
________, then I would be happy/content. The first part of the conditional
statement expresses the longing, the second its result if fulfilled.
The world of conditional thinking is the world of perpetual
discontent. This is because fulfillment of our many longings rarely brings lasting satisfaction. Once we get the thing we long for it won’t be long before desire
returns. The single person longs to be married; the married couple longs for
children; the parents long for grandchildren; the grandparents long to see
their grandchildren get married. In this life there is perpetual
incompleteness.
Not all longing is bad. Many of our good longings this side of
eternity will remain unfulfilled. This reality could leave us in unremitting
devastation if we become enslaved to conditional thinking. The way to freedom
in this world of many unfulfilled dreams is to be released from the inner “If…
then…” Biblically, this is called contentment.
Real contentment is non-circumstance dependent. One no longer
thinks If these circumstances happen, then I will be content. Paul
wrote:
“I don’t have a
sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content
whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with
much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or
hungry, hands full or hands empty.”[1]
Conditional thinking demands circumstances to
change for there to be contentment. Unless one is healed of this mentality, contentment
will be the carrot, just our of reach.
The Jesus-solution is to eliminate perpetual
discontent by revealing the heart’s true resting place. “Whatever I have,
wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.”[2]
Years ago one of my baby sons, David, died. If
only David were alive, then I would be forever satisfied. The longing expressed in
the antecedent clause of this conditional statement is pure. But the consequent
is false. It is false because things run deeper than life’s circumstances,
fulfilled or unfulfilled. The idea that I will be forever satisfied in this
life if only one of my circumstances would change is an illusion.
To realize this is to focus my heart and mind on
something else. I have discovered that my soul finds rest in God alone.
When I direct and order my life to rest in the One who makes me what I am, the
tears of my unfulfilled longings are not polluted by unfulfilled
circumstances.
Praying is one way of resting in the Lord.
Soul-rest
is the locus of contentment.
