I was just sitting in church listening to the Pastor read through some announcements when he said something about “looking for more,” and the words implanted in my brain like a message from heaven or a highlighted passage. So here I am, writing in obedience to God’s direction.

There are two ways to look at this idea of looking for more. A positive way and a negative way.

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.‬‬

James‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT

I feel this pressure of wanting what will give me pleasure being brazenly encouraged at this time of year. Eleven months out of the year—except maybe around my birthday—my wants are tame and finding contentment is much easier. November brings Thanksgiving and my heart is full of thankfulness for all that I have. But turn the page to December and it’s time to make a list of things I want, when I didn’t feel the need for anything to begin with.

The battle ramps up in my soul.

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other…‬‬

Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭17a‬ ‭ESV

When I hear “looking for more” it shouldn’t be about the desires of the flesh. My spirit longs for more of Christ.

He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]…

Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬ ‭AMP‬‬

If we turn our desires around, this is what we get—

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.‬‬

Psalm‬ ‭37‬:‭4‬ ‭ESV

When we delight ourselves Christ, he becomes our desire. More of him.

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ‬‬.

Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭8‬ ‭NLT

The more I go looking for more, the more I find. The point for me is, instead of focusing on all the things I want for Christmas, I want to share the love and blessings I’ve found in Jesus Christ. Generosity is an integral part of who my Savior is and I want to reflect that in more ways this season.

I still need to address my list, but I’ll try to keep it short.

Grace & Peace,

Sandy

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