CHARTREUSIAN

Author: chartreusian

  • #7 – Contentment is like Love

    READ THIS: Love and contentment have a lot of similarities. Both are often misunderstood in our culture, even among followers of Jesus. If we listen to the loudest voices in our culture, we hear lots of teaching about both love and contentment. Some of the strongest messages we receive are misconceptions of both. This misdirection…

  • #6 – Contentment is like Shalom

    READ THIS:​In the same way that we often confuse Shalom with a lack of fighting, we confuse true contentment with a simple lack of displeasure. We think getting rid of the problems of life is all there is. However the mere absence of fighting is not what the Biblical concept of Shalom is, and a…

  • #5 – Contentment is Not Satisfaction

    READ THIS: One of the reasons we cannot keep, or even find contentment, is that we have managed to confuse it with satisfaction. This may seem like a nit-picky point – as even some English thesauruses (thesauri?) will essentially equate the words contentment and satisfaction. However, there is a meaningful difference when we approach the…

  • #4 – Contentment is Not Apathy

    READ THIS: One thing we must make very clear is that real, authentic contentment is not the same as mere apathy. Being content is not equal to feeling like you just don’t care. Apathy is thinking that you can’t do anything that will matter or change the outcome. It is not even wanting to try.…

  • Maundy Thursday – A Reflection on Betrayal

    Maundy Thursday – A Reflection on Betrayal

    Today is the day before Good Friday, just over half-way from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. A strange day referred to in the traditional Christan calendar as “Maundy Thursday.” Or, as most kids who grew up in church think it’s called: “Monday-Thursday” It coincides with the traditional celebration of the Seder Supper – the marking…

  • Family

    {this post originally appeared on our team blog} My brother and his wife and their four kids were here over Christmas and we had a fantastic 3-weeks together. It’s the second time we’ve seen them since 2014, the third time since 2010. Yet we feel so close to them.  The same day they left our…

  • #3 – what it really means

    READ THIS: I’ve claimed this newsletter will help you understand and live out Biblical contentment – so we should see what the Bible actually means when it uses the word. The English word content shows up 16 times in the NIV translation, 12 in the ESV. There are only five passages (one in the Old Testament and…

  • #2 – what is contentment?

    READ THIS You say ‘if I had a little more, I should be satisfied.’ You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you will not be satisfied if it doubled. Charles Spurgeon Before we get any further into contentment, we need to identify what it is. At the most basic…

  • Divine Love

    {this was originally a post Susan wrote on our Team Blog} What i’m about to tell you is a love story.  This is one of the greatest love stories I’ve ever experienced.  It involves unconditional love, costly sacrifice, incredible patience and perseverance.  But this is not your usual love story.  This is the love story between a young a…

  • #1 – Where is God?

    READ THIS: The Gilbertson brothers were among the many Nordic immigrants who came to North America in the early 20th century in search of a better life for themselves and their future descendants. They settled along the southern edge of the Canadian prairies in the time of homesteading when the government was handing out land…