PKLM Sermons
PKLM Sermons
August 24, 2025 - Josh Miller - Contentment
August 24, 2025 - Josh Miller - Contentment
- 0:00 Introduction and Opening Remarks
- 0:11 The Quest for Contentment
- 1:59 Scriptural Insights on Contentment
- 4:36 The Story of St. Francis of Assisi
- 10:06 Reflections on Modern Discontent
- 14:41 The Pursuit of Godly Virtues
- 26:38 Daily Reflections and Questions
- 31:30 Closing Prayer and Benediction
[00:00:00] Introduction and Opening Remarks
good morning everyone, man.
It's good. Good to be with you all. Uh, that, thanks for picking that song, Sheila. Uh, you probably didn't know I even Yeah, you didn't know that.
[00:00:11] The Quest for Contentment
Uh, but perfect song for what we're talking about this morning, really looking at contentment. And really it's asking the question, what does it take for us to be satisfied?
Our, our world lives in this place of discontent. Ever since Genesis three sin enters the picture. Since that moment, our world lives in this place of dissatisfaction and is searching and searching what's gonna fulfill us, what's gonna satisfy us, what's gonna make us happy and whole. And they don't have any answers.
And yet, for us as believers, as followers of Jesus, we have an answer. And so, but I dunno about you. At least for me, I've often live in this place of dissatisfaction rather than satisfaction. And so this morning we wanna look at what has God called us to? What does he offer us that's so different than what the world offers us, that we can live in a place of being satisfied, live in a place of contentment.
I find it a little ironic that I'm talking about this this morning because we just now spent three days here at the lake and I was feeling pretty good about my life out in Dallas. Uh, until today, uh, feeling pretty discontent, like, man, maybe, uh, I need to be out here a little more often. And so maybe you're just gonna listen to me, preach to myself this morning.
I hope that's okay on what it looks like to be content and satisfied and be where God's called you and planted you. Uh, but we've had such a good time. I've been, I was here about a month ago. Got to bring my family here this time, and we've had just a blast. So thanks for having us here. First of all. Uh, and I'm, I'm just looking forward to diving into this.
So, but yeah, I'm, I'm coming into this one not as a person who has figured this out, but a person who would love to figure this out, to love to be live in a place of contentment and satisfaction and, and hope in God.
[00:01:59] Scriptural Insights on Contentment
And so, uh, to, to look at that this morning, we're gonna look at actually first Timothy chapter six.
If you wanna pull out your Bible, you can. Otherwise we'll have it here on the screen. This is one of those passages that I could just read and kind of be like. Amen. And we're done because it just, it's a sermon in and of itself, just how rich it is. But, uh, we'll unpack it a little bit together. But starting in one Timothy, uh, six, uh, starting in verse six says this, but godliness with contentment is great gain for, we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it.
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. I dunno about you. I'm rarely, that's rarely feels like enough for me on a day-to-day basis, but that's what it says. If we have food and clothing, we'll be content with that. For those who want to get rich, fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
In the sight of God who gives life to everything and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time. God, the blessed and only ruler.
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, who whom no one has seen or can see to him, be honor and might forever. Amen. Command those who are rich in this present world, not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in in wealth, which is so uncertain, but put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life, the life that is truly life.
[00:04:36] The Story of St. Francis of Assisi
I wanna share a little bit of a story with you, uh, back in the year 1181.
There was a boy named Giovanni and he was born in Central Italy. He was born to a wealthy cloth merchant named Pietro. I'm gonna try and say all these Italian names, I dunno about you. Anytime I say these Italian names, I like, it comes out in this horrible Italian accent, so I'm gonna try to avoid that.
But born to a wealthy cloth merchant named Pietro and his wife, uh, was a French Noble named Pika. So Giovanni, very Italian name, right? It actually means John. So he was actually named after John the Baptist. Uh, but his father, Pietro wanted his son to be a successful business to take over the the family business, and his father was not a man of God, and so he actually changed his name to Francesco.
Uh, which was a strong name and it, it really is. Francesco was named after France, so he named him after a love of, of France. His father loved France. He was like, we don't want this John the Baptist name. We're not gonna change his name to Francesco, a strong French name. Uh, hopefully he'll take over the business here.
So Francesco grew up very wealthy. Spoiled had fine food, wine, great parties. He apparently was very charming, very much an elite in the in society, and apparently also a bit, a bit vain, like charming and he knows it type person, you know. Uh, so he learned archery and horsemanship. And despite his father's desire that he take over the family business, Francesco dreamed of being a war hero.
That was his dream. Like, I want to go, I want to have valor in battle be a war hero. And so war did break out in the year 1202, and Francesco immediately joined the Calvary. He's like, this is my chance. I'm gonna go and become this hero, uh, that people are gonna respect and honor and love. But in his very first battle, his regiment was completely overwhelmed.
They, they fled. They had to retreat. Everybody fled. Most of them actually lost their lives. Most of most lost their lives. Most of his regiment was completely wiped out, but they spared Francesco. And they, and then they held him captive. And the reason they held him captive was it was because of his brand spanking New Armor that looks shiny and expensive.
They go, maybe we should keep this guy alive and we can get some ransom money for him. And so they, they wiped everybody out. But spared Francesco held him captive, and we're gonna try and get ransom money. And so this, this took a full year for the ransom process to take place. So they held him in a dark underground mildewy cell, and he waited by himself in this underground cell for his father's ransom payment to arrive to free him.
And it was while he was in this cell for an entire year, that God began to transform Francesco's heart. He, God began to speak to him. Change him on the inside. And so when he was finally released from his cell, he went back home to the lifestyle he had before, back to the parties, back to the wealth, the fancy clothes, back to people knowing his name back to all the expectations of society.
And yet he was in those same places. And the things that he once loved, the things that he once made him feel successful, important, and satisfied, no longer appealed to him at all. That place where you're in this spot and you're like, this is not. Me anymore. And so what Francesco did was he said, I feel that this call to go and serve God, instead, God had really worked in his heart.
So Transformatively no longer did he no longer wanna be a war hero. He didn't even want the money and the wealth and the success of the family business. And so he says, I'm gonna go and serve God. So he literally sells everything he has. And in fact, he's, he even sold some of the things that were his father's that weren't even his, which didn't go over well.
So he sold all his stuff. He started selling dad's stuff. The, the family is mad and angry and reject him. He want, he, he'd been to go out, go out on his own and starts to serve God. He, he, uh, took on a vow of poverty. And his, his life aim became to follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps.
So he took that literally, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna do what Jesus did. I'm gonna go follow what he did. And, uh, he, he, he committed to owning practically nothing other than the clothes on his back. So he had, he said, all I'm gonna own, the only possession I'm gonna have is are the clothes in my back. And he dedicated his life to talking about the love of God, forgiveness, and to serve the sick and the poor.
He became known, really notorious for hanging out with lepers. He was beaten on multiple occasions, was completely rejected by his family, his and friends. But through it all, he stayed committed to what God called him to do, and he ended up passing away at 44. Uh, from illness, but he had fulfilled his vow to follow Jesus with everything he had.
Now, you, you may not recognize Francesco's name, but the people who knew him just called him Francis, and it was two years after his death. He was canonized as a saint in the Catholic church, as St. Francis of Assisi. And the movement that he started continues to this day. His life and commitment to live not for the things of this world, but to live for Jesus has inspired generations of people to follow after God.
And even the last, the former Pope was named after St. Francis of Assisi.
[00:10:06] Reflections on Modern Discontent
It's just a really, I, I read that story and was just struck by a couple things, both just a level of commitment and dedication and that passion for Jesus. And secondly, just. How much? I'm not like that. I don't you. I don't know about you, but that feels like such a far stretch from where I live today to I'm surrounded by blessing, surrounded by so much, and yet even with all the things, I still can feel unsatisfied even with all the things God has put in my life and blessed me with.
It just doesn't always feel like enough, and yet we have this guy who's like, I don't need any of that stuff. And I'm gonna serve Jesus. And he finds contentment and satisfaction in this life. That is hard to even comprehend in my own mind. Not only would I, you know, not only would I struggle, struggle to give up just some of the things I currently have.
I struggle to be content with all the things I I, by keeping all the stuff, I still struggle to be content. I, I remember, uh, Mike mentioned I, uh, I used to do music. Uh, I don't know if you realize this, but it's typically not a great career choice, uh, not a great family conversation. Hey, mom. Dad, I know you wanted me to go to college next year.
I was thinking about joining a band and just how do you feel about that? Uh, the way I got away with it is I told 'em, oh, we just could do it for one year. If it doesn't pan out. I'll go back to school and uh, that turned into 13. Um, and yet it was in that stage we were doing our best to follow after Jesus, like he said, a Christian band.
We felt God calling us to go and do ministry. And so we've been to travel the country. God provided just enough, but I remember this was about probably five or six years into us doing music full time, and I finally got to take my first salary. It was $35,000 a year, and I was pumped. I thought I had made it with my 35 KA year salary doing music.
That satisfaction didn't last very long. Kind of wore out pretty quick. We realized, oh, maybe, maybe that's not enough. And so like, you know, end up doing a different job here and there, like, oh, that's nice. I feel satisfied again. And then. Wait a second, maybe that's not enough and change jobs again. Maybe, maybe this'll be an that's not enough, and I, I don't know about you.
It turns out I don't know that there's ever enough, you know, there's a, there was a man who lived about, uh, a hundred years after St. Francis, a guy named Thomas Aquinas. He asked this question, what would satisfy our desire? What would it take to feel satisfied? He was a kind of a philosopher. Wrestling with this question, and again, this isn't, they're talking about money in first, uh, Timothy here, and money's a great example of this, but this is more than just about finances, but he's asking what would it, what would it take to, to satisfy us?
His answer was this, everything. We would have to experience everything and everybody and be experienced by everything and everybody to feel satisfied. Uh, Ronald Ro Heiser unpacks this in his book. Uh, he's really reflecting on this. And then John Mark Comer also reflects on this kind of thought process in his book.
I, I liked John Mark Comer, so I'm gonna, uh, use this one today. But he kind of reflects on this by saying we would have to eat. At every restaurant, travel to every country, every city, every exotic locale experience, every natural wonder win every award. Climb to the top of every field, own every item in the world.
We would have to experience it all to ever feel okay. You encouraged yet, am I the only one that has experienced this tension though? Where you It's the what? What is enough? Because. We chase all these things, external things, and they feel great for the moment. Maybe we get that man, we get that, uh, kind of victory at work that we were hoping for.
Maybe that relationship comes like we were hoping for. Maybe we get that promotion. Maybe this thing happens in our life that we're like, man, I was hoping for that. And there's this moment of satisfaction and yet it fades. And yet, so when we look at one Timothy. He offers. You know, Paul's offering a different perspective here on what really matters that all of these things around us aren't gonna be enough.
[00:14:41] The Pursuit of Godly Virtues
They're not gonna be enough, and that's why he says, command those who are rich in this present world, not to be arrogant or to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but what does he say to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything we need for our enjoyment? Again, command them to be good.
To be rich in what? In good deeds, to be generous, willing to share. And in this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take a hold, check this out so that they may take hold of the life. That is truly life. That's the key, key thing here. There is life that seems like life, but isn't life giving.
That's what's so bewildering. You can be surrounded by goodness, surrounded by good things, full of blessings in your life, and yet not feel blessed. It feels so ironic. You can have all of these great things and yet there is something different. There is a life that isn't life and a life that is truly life, and that's what he's offering to Timothy here, and that's why he can say if we have food and clothing, we'll be content with that.
Because it's kind of going, Hey, you got your basic needs covered. Beyond that, all the things you're chasing aren't truly life. But what, oh yeah. I love this part. So when I, when I look at this stuff, again, I kinda mentioned, I, I just am like, I feel so far from this so often, and to some degree this feels.
Kind of boring. So you're saying that if I have food and clothing, I guess I just should kind of sit back and just not care anymore. Like what? I'm, I'm kind of a driven individual. Like I love, I love building stuff. I love chasing stuff. Love accomplishing things. I love fixing things, so like one of my favorite things is to solve problems.
So show me a problem and let me figure out how to solve it, and I get pumped about that. That's exciting for me. The O, the O, the backside, the dark side of that is I always see things that things need to be better. So I rarely am just like, ah, that's good enough. Like, no, we could, we could do better than that.
Like even if this was a flawless sermon today, which it won't be, and it hasn't already. Even if it was, I'll be walking away going, man, I should have done that. I should have done that. I should have done. I'm a great person to be married to, you know, I'm sure and my wife loves that. I'm sure. Like, we gotta fix this.
Let's make it better. Contentment is not a natural state for me. And so when I see this, I also go, not only do I feel far from that, it kind of just feels boring. I love the pursuit. I love the chase. That's exciting and energizing for me. So what do you mean God? Just to be content? What does that look like?
But I love where he goes here. What he is not saying is get food and clothing and just be bored. Just stop chasing anything. Just just relax. He actually tells him to pursue. But it's the object of the pursuit that matters. So rather than pursuing all of these things that you don't get to take with you, the success, you don't get to take with you the reputation, you don't get to take with you the money, you don't get to take with you all the things you don't get to take with you.
But what do you get to take with you the what really matters? Righteousness. Godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. And so what he's telling us here is don't just stop trying like you, like I I, I don't feel the pressure like, okay, I just need to not care about anything anymore. I'm just like, I'm just content.
I'm just gonna sit on the boat in the lake. I'm just good for the rest of my life. Uh, he's not saying that, he's saying no. What, what is the object of your pursuit? When you get up in the morning, is your pursuit going, okay, I'm gonna go accomplish and acquire and gain and get things for myself. What can I go get done for me today?
Or am I going, God, help me be more righteous today? God, would you help me be more holy? Build godliness in me, Lord, would you help me have more faith? Build faith in me? How do I love more? How do I have endurance in a world that is pushing against this life of pursuing Jesus? How do I endure and be faithful?
How do I live in gentleness where the world, like we talked about a month ago, if you were here, where the world talks about boldness and strength and domination. That's what our culture promotes, and yet God is talking about gentleness. God, would you help me build that in me? That's what he's talking about here.
It's not that we should not pursue, it's that we need to pursue the things of God rather than the things of this world. And in that, what feels like giving up, like when you talk about St. Francis, you go, man, he had to sacrifice so much. That feels like it's a loss. But what we're reading here is that it's actually gained.
As long as we are seeking the things of the world, that as long as that is our pursuit, we are actually stuck in a trap. It is this, it is this treadmill where we never get to the destination always more. There's always the next thing. It's never quiet enough, and yet when we put our hope in God, like we sang about, I'm satisfied.
How do you, how do you fulfill an endless need? An endless void with an endless God? So often we're trying to fill this deep, endless need to be satisfied in our hearts with finite things, and they run out. But yet, if we put our hope in him, our trust in him, our pursuit in the things of God, that's where we find satisfaction.
This is a quote from St. Francis, which I think is pretty powerful here, if I can find it on my slide, it says, don't forget your purpose and destiny as God's creature. What you are in his sight is what you are, and nothing more. Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take nothing that you have received, but only which you have given.
Full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage. He's saying, we're not what we do. We're not what we have. We are who God says we are. See, like I mentioned, this is the enemy has used the same tactics since the very beginning. You think about in Genesis three, Adam and Eve in the garden, they have everything that they need, right?
Uh, they're not worrying about food. They're not worrying about death. They're not even like, they're not, they're not getting old, they're not getting frail. They don't have sickness and disease. All their food's provided for them. They have personal relationship with God walking in the garden with them.
And so what does the enemy do? He uses this classic sales technique of, uh, making them think they have a need. So he goes, is God really enough? Does. Is he really gonna provide for you? Are you sure he's not holding out on you? You might be missing something. And then what's the back half of that sales technique offer the solution.
And so he starts to put this little bug in their ear of you might not have enough, but for 5 99 you can get this right. Eat the fruit, and you can be like, God, if you just take, if you just pursue this rather than what God has offered. You're gonna be satisfied. And what do they find out? It's a complete deception and it's so easy for us to live this same deception of we have all that we need in God.
And yet we hear this little bug in our ear of, oh, maybe God plus that would be enough. And we go through this same cycle that Adam and Eve went through in the garden of thinking, the fruit over here will take care of that, and yet God is really all that we need. It's the same principle that applies to us.
I love this quote from Paul Tripp. If you seek satisfaction, satisfaction will es escape your grasp. But if you seek God rest in his presence and grace and put your heart in his most capable hands, he will satisfy your heart as nothing else can. We can't let anything else become our ultimate pursuit, and please hear me.
I'm not saying at all that the stuff is wrong. The blessings of God are bad. That's not the point at all. What I'm saying is don't fall for the lie, that that is enough, that that's gonna satisfy you. That's not, it's not, it's not gonna get there for you. And God is offering freedom from that treadmill.
He's offering freedom from that deception to say, put your hope in me, trust in me, and you'll find true satisfaction. And all this stuff just becomes bonus and all. It also allows you to be generous with it. If we're called to be as believers, to be generous and live a life of self-sacrifice and blessing others, it's hard to do that when you're like, I need this stuff.
I'm trying to acquire more to feel satisfied. What happens when we're going, oh, I'm satisfied in God. All of this becomes just free play. Now it's like, man, how can I bless others? How can I build the kingdom? How can I do all of this for the, for the kingdom of God? And the danger is when this becomes the pursuit, the stuff becomes the pursuit.
It turns into what the Bible calls idolatry. Now, we don't use this word a lot anymore in our culture. If you don't like this word, you know, we have this whole idea as a society, you do you, you know, just do your thing. Nothing is really wrong. Have your personal truth, whatever's most important and right to you, do that thing, that's fine.
But the Bible says that anything that. Gets put in front of him, becomes an idol. I love this quote from Tim Keller too. You'll notice that I quote a lot of people that are just smarter than me 'cause they say it all better than I do. And so I love tossing other quotes in here. Uh, but I love this. This one from Tim Keller is one of my absolute favorites.
He says that we think idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case. The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hope and hopes. Anything can serve as a counterfeit God, especially the best things in life. And he says this later, an idol is whatever you look at and say in your heart of hearts.
If I have that. Then I'll feel my life has meaning. Then I'll know I have value, then I'll feel significant and secure. There are many ways to describe that kind of relationship to something, but perhaps the best one is worship. See the danger in pursuing all of the right things. Sometimes this isn't just a how to be happy sermon, like the, we kinda go look at like, okay, yeah, I wanna be happy.
I wanna be satisfied, so I'm gonna go do this. It's, it's more than that. It's really about where is our heart's attention? Who are we worshiping? Who is most important in our life? Because when anything else besides God is put at the center of our pursuit, that's called idolatry because that is our, that is a form of worship that we are saying, I am putting all my attention and value around this thing outside of God.
And so not only will it not be satisfying, but it also takes us away from. Truly following after Jesus.
[00:26:38] Daily Reflections and Questions
And so I really just wanna end with this. I'd love for you to just reflect on these questions for a moment, and I please hear me. I hope this doesn't feel like a shaming sermon. Uh, welcome to the Human Experience again, just like Adam and Eve, the very first sin, the beginning of humanity.
Maybe I need something else beside God. There has not been a human that has ever lived, who has not wrestled with this very tension. Every single human that has ever lived is in this tension between, am I gonna pursue God? Is he gonna be enough, or am I gonna fill it with other things? Am I gonna try and find my value and my worth, am my satisfaction and my hope in anything else?
But God, it, it basically is a two category situation. It's either God or it's something else. And so I really would just love each of us just to reflect on these for a moment. As you look at your own life, you can, if you want, you can even take a picture of this. Sometimes you kinda need to sit with these for a while and just really spend some time with it.
You can take a picture of these. I'll send 'em to you if you want, but if you were to just really think for a moment just about your own life, where have you placed your hope when you're getting up in the morning, going throughout your day? What's your hope in is that, man, I hope I'm successful at work today.
That's often my struggle. It's the man. My, my hope is I'm not, I gotta go, I gotta be successful at work today. If I'm successful at work, I'm successful at life. I'm successful as a human. I feel good about myself. And when I have, and it turns out, if I have a bad day at work, man, I'm a failure. I'm not enough.
I put my hope in work often, and so sometimes I have to go, okay, God, help me reorient. God, how do I put my hope in you today? How do I show up at work and go, God, my hope is actually you. And how do I come in free from expectations, free from pressure, and getting to pour out and love on others? Where have you placed your hope?
Is it, is it a relationship? Is there a relationship where you feel like, man, I just gotta, I need to be right. That's my hope is coming out on top in this relationship. I need to be the person who's right. Is it finances? Is it success? What is it for you? And then this, this is an interesting question. What would really make you happy?
Uh, Devin and I will wrap both of us out. We, we do the, uh. The futile Zillow game where you kind of just look at the houses and you know, like, oh, that looks kind of nice. And we kind of, the slider starts going up and up and like, we probably couldn't afford it with the like, low end of the slider already, but we're like, slide, oh, that looks nice, that looks nice.
We play this Zillow game of that would be really cool. You know, we, you know, we, we looked at the houses around here. That would be awesome. Maybe that would make me happy. I'm like, no, that's, it's a, it's a lie. Would be sure. It'd be nice, but it's not gonna make me happy. Sure, success at work would feel nice, but it's not.
I'm going to get to the next thing and not be happy. The only thing that's fulfilling is gonna be Christ. What is it for you? What's the thing that when you're like, oh, if only if only, what's the, if only for you. If only that happens. If only this was better, if only my health was like this. If only this relationship was like this.
If only this thing came to fruition, then I'd be happy. What is it for you? And then where are you looking for stability? Sometimes it's not just pursuit, but it's also what makes me feel safe. So where are you looking for stability? Man, I gotta keep, I hope this thing doesn't fall apart. 'cause that's where my security is.
If this thing falls apart, I'm doomed. That can be an indication that we've put our trust and our hope in things other than Christ. Where are you looking for security? Where are you looking for acceptance? Yeah, man, I need these people to approve of me. I need these people to like me. It's the temptation coming in.
Even doing this this morning, it's the man, I hope he doesn't, I'd hope he doesn't hate me. I hope I don't bomb this and never get invited back. There's, there's this temptation every day to look for acceptance from the people around us. Where are you looking for acceptance? And then what's most important in your life right now?
What's the thing when you get up in the morning, like, I gotta, this is, this is what matters. And I to, I'd encourage you, these are kind of daily questions. This isn't a, this isn't a one, a one time, I've got this right, and then I'm kind of moved on to the next thing. This is kind of a daily one. Okay? What's this morning?
What's most important to me today? Who's most important to me? To me today? How am I pursuing righteousness and love and faith and hope today?
[00:31:30] Closing Prayer and Benediction
Then I just wanna end, we'll end with just this, this is a, a prayer from St. Francis. I'd love for y'all to, would you be all right to read this with me? Let's just make this as we close, just our, let's make this our prayer together, that this would be true of us.
As we close, let's read this together. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace where there is hatred. Let me sow love where there is injury. Pardon where there is doubt. Faith, where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness light, where there is sadness, joy, oh, divine master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love for it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying, that we are born to eternal life. Amen. Thank you all. Let me, let me pray for us real, just briefly and then I'll, it will be dismissed. God, we do ask, Lord. We know we are like every human who's ever lived and struggle to keep you at the center of our hearts.
God, we've all experienced the fleeting pleasure that the world has to offer. And so God, this morning, would you help redirect our attention to you, God, where there are things that we put first, where there are things in our heart that, that draw our attention where there are lies, where we, we may believe that this thing may satisfy us, God, would you redirect us back to putting our hope in you?
God, we know the world has so much to offer and it's all a sham. But yet we believe it sometimes. So God, would you help us? Would you be close? Speak to our hearts and our minds quickly. God, whenever we just get off course a little bit, would you redirect us to you? Would you remind us, Hey, that's not gonna do it.
And God would, would it be true of us, God, that we are people who seek you first. And God, most of all this morning, I'm so grateful for your patience with us. Lord, thank you for your grace, that even after thousands and thousands of times where I've wandered from you thousands of times where I've put other things first, every time you invite me back lovingly and with grace and not with judgment.
So God, we are so thankful for that. We're grateful for that. And Lord, would you help us, help us to be faithful. Help us to put you first. Help us to place our hope in you. We love you. Be with us as we go out this week, your name, amen. Amen.