Leah Sax:
Hello and welcome to episode 21 of Delight Podcast. I am Leah Sax.
Adam Curtis:
Hello and I’m Adam Curtis.
Leah Sax:
Today’s episode we are looking at contentment and our guest is Simon Dickon, who is a pastor with a young family.
Adam Curtis:
And he’s also my good friend and.
Leah Sax:
He’s my friend too.
Adam Curtis:
I’m gonna claim him as more of my friend than your friend.
Leah Sax:
You’ve both got the height thing going for you. Anyway, we just want to say thank you so much for listening to Delight Podcast and also for those amazing messages we get when you tell us what you’ve been listening to.
Adam Curtis:
One of my personal favourites, which we received last year, was a friend of Leah sent her a message saying that she tuned into Delight Podcast while she was at the gym and she went to listen to the outtakes episode, but she had to turn the episode off because she was just simply laughing too much. And I find that absolutely remarkable because I wasn’t even sure if we should do an outtakes episode, because it would just be too awkward.
Leah Sax:
No, no, it’s because you’re like the “cringe factor general”. You find anything cringey? But yes. Episode 14, it’s true. Episode 14, which seems like a little age ago, was that outtakes episode, and we just really weren’t sure if anyone would find it funny. Unless you like, knew us. Anyway, it’s become one of our most listened to episodes, and I’m sure we’ll definitely do another outtakes one. I definitely have enough of Adam just laughing to do a beautiful episode. Please do keep letting us know what you thought of the episodes, and I’m excited to hear what Simon has to say to us today.
Leah Sax:
I’m excited to welcome Simon Dickon to Delight Podcast. Thank you for having me.
Simon Dickson:
Delight to be here.
Leah Sax:
Oh, thank you very much. That was exactly on cue. And actually we didn’t prep you, which is a delight in itself. Not gonna lie, I’ve known you as Dickie for, like, a very long time, because we used to go to church back in the day together, didn’t we, brother?
Simon Dickson:
Yeah, We did.
Leah Sax:
What happened along the way? Why, why why are we no longer Dickie?
Simon Dickson:
So my surname is Dickson. Bit of context, which is why I always kind of since teenage years had the nickname Dickie. Um, shorten from Dickon stuck with me through my early 20s and then went to theological college and thought, I really need to grow up and mature. And so I rebranded as Simon.
Adam Curtis:
The Great Rebrand. Do you think people now see you as like, mature?
Simon Dickson:
No, no. No, but I don’t think Dickie would have helped my cause. Maybe. I think, like, once I’ve hit 50 or so, I’ll probably go back to Dickie. Okay.
Adam Curtis:
And is that because at that stage, Dickie becomes like this mature title or because at that stage you’ll want to you want people to view you as younger and hip and cool again.
Simon Dickson:
Yeah, I Think the latter.
Leah Sax:
This is going to be a whole journey of like, what stage are we anyway? Right back on track. I can do this. I’m a grown up. I’m mature, Leah. That’s who I am. Simon who we will henceforth refer to as Simon for the rest of the pod. Could you tell us a little bit about how you came to know Jesus?
Simon Dickson:
I had the great privilege of growing up with Christian parents. And so I think a Christian view of the world and view of myself was with me and in me from pretty early age. So going to church on Sunday was a normal thing to do. Uh, we’d say the Lord’s Prayer before going to bed as a child each night. I think from a very early age, that would have put in me a belief that there is a God I can call him. Father also didn’t understand everything about the Lord’s Prayer. What it means, you know, hallowed be thy name and those kind of things. But got enough a sense that God is good and God is someone I can and pray to and and call my father for as long as I can remember Really, and, certainly would have considered myself a Christian as far as I knew what that meant. Some big steps along the way. I remember once as a probably about 13 or 14 being at school, and we had a Bible study. We looked at the the bit of the Bible where Jesus says, it’s not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. He’s not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And I think that was a bit of a light bulb moment for me, and a really helpful step where I think it just clarified something of grace for me, that Jesus didn’t want me because I was better in comparison than other schoolboys in my class or something like that. Morally, he wanted me because he knew I had a sickness a sin problem, and he was the doctor with the cure. So I think that was a really big moment of stepping and understanding grace.
Leah Sax:
And at that moment when you understood what grace was, did that have any natural outworking in that teenage Simon life?
Simon Dickson:
No, I don’t think so. Actually. I think pretty slow learner. I think just most of the Christian life is trying to get into our hard hearts grace and to be less legalistic, if you like. If that step is Mark Chapter 2, Bible study step was understanding it in terms like my personal relationship with Jesus, my justification. The rest of life is trying to work that into your heart for how you consider yourselves with other people and your relationships, other people, and other things or achievements in your life. I’d say a slow burn Since then, I’d say
Leah Sax:
How have you seen God’s grace at work in your life during that slow burn? Because the book is a joy and the benefit of hindsight, right?
Simon Dickson:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that the best bit of a Christian life I found is that the longer it goes on, the bigger my view of God gets and the deeper my enjoyment of him for who he is. The cool thing is, is because he is infinite, like that journey never stops. The more you learn about him, the more knowledge you have of that truth of him, the deeper that joy gets, um, the bigger that view. So that’s how I summarise at the moment. Kind of development along the way is constantly getting a bigger and bigger and better, more glorious and joyful view of who God is and how that makes sense of more and more of my life, my place in it.
Leah Sax:
Oh, that’s so beautiful. Bigger, glorious, joyous view of God. That’s a beautiful reminder to have. What do you think you’ve been most thankful for? Um, for God being at work in your life over the past years of your life? I don’t know how old you are, Simon.
Adam Curtis:
Well, he’s a mature age of 33.
Leah Sax:
I believe he’s the the mature age of Simon, not Dickie, That’s his age.
Simon Dickson:
I think I’m thankful that I think I’m learning more and more that all good things come from God. There’s a doctrine Adam and I learnt about at theological college called God’s aseity, which means that God has life in and of himself, and so all life comes from him. A bit like, you know how all the lights in our solar system comes from the sun in the sky? The moon reflects that light, that kind of thing. All the the light and life, spiritually and physically that we receive all comes from God. And that makes sense of why, you know, we would give thanks for a meal before we have it. Everything, every breath. It all comes from God.
Leah Sax:
Thank you so much for being a part of the Delight Podcast family. Let us know what you thought of today’s episode by answering the question you can see next to today’s episode In your app of choice, you know you can find us at Delight Podcast and DelightPodcast.com has a full transcript of today’s episode. Thank you for listening, liking and sharing.
Adam Curtis:
It has been reported that seven out of ten searches on YouTube are for videos that will help people. People look on YouTube for help on bleeding a radiator or making a white sauce both Things I’m guilty of doing myself. But also people look for videos that offer self-improvement. If you go on YouTube, there’s so much content that offers the latest life hack, motivational speech, or technique that will help you finally flourish. All these searches and all these videos give an overwhelming impression that people are pretty discontent. You only search for a motivational speech if you don’t currently have it. It demonstrates that they are looking for something that will lift them out of their current hole and help them to thrive again. Thus, they turn to the self-help YouTuber. Simon, Why do you think people are so discontent?
Simon Dickson:
I think it is a problem of our time. Our use of social media and the internet has got to be a part of that. At least it correlates with it. You know, when we go on Instagram or whatever, you know, we see a highlights reel of someone’s life. We don’t see the boring, mundane, we see the best bits instinctively. We compare ourselves to other people either compare ourselves I’m having a better time than them, or I’m not having a good time as them. And I think in the long run that leads to some pretty big discontentment. I told of studies that show that the more people spend on social media platforms without actually contributing themselves, the more discontent they feel. You know, a sweet spot, I presume. I guess we probably all have that from our own experience, right? Yeah, but I think there are lots of examples of that comparison, which we do. And it’s not all just on on social media, but in our lives very, very instinctively, which lead us to feeling discontent. The social group which am I in? Which I Am not in? From the outside it looks like a clique, but to people on the inside it’s just a friendship group. It’s just, you know, friends who are there for you when the rain starts to fall. But to others, it’s a clique. Yeah. Might be our experiences, you know who’s having the best holiday? What are we up to the weekend? You know, all those things can produce FOMO in us. And fear of missing out. Yeah. Do you guys see any other examples of that? You notice where we instinctively compare and feel discontent.
Adam Curtis:
Well, it was interesting. We were talking about in the in the pre show how both me and Simon were, um, were at college together. I was comparing myself quite quickly with the other students around me, and they made me feel like I was an absolute idiot.
Leah Sax:
Yeah.
Adam Curtis:
And and then I Leave that place feeling with that silly sense of, oh, I’m just a fool.
Leah Sax:
And 100% I mean, I live my life on social media for work purposes. And so there’s inevitability that you’re drawing the line between wanting to share what you’re producing as a, as a shop front versus encouraging others versus seeing what everyone else is doing, which is shinier. And like that word you use, Simon, that kind of inevitable, like there’s there’s almost no way that you can in that instant, in that moment, stop doing that.
Adam Curtis:
Do you think this is solely social media’s fault? Do you think discontentment is a purely like modern problem?
Simon Dickson:
No. Social media just amplifies the problem because of the highlights reel thing. Um, and so therefore we’ve just got more people we can compare ourselves to. And also we choose who we compare ourselves to. So for example, for someone how they look is a big deal to them, their aesthetics. Then if you’re choosing to follow the man or woman who is the kind of dream physique you’d like to look like, then you’re more likely to compare yourself negatively to that. So I just think social media amplifies the problem. But it is a I think it is a timeless problem and the Bible is full of advice on contentment. Bible was written, you know, thousands of years ago, and it addresses these very same questions we have in life about contentment and discontentment. And it can do that because it’s not just a problem of our time. It is a very deep human problem. The Bible is honest enough to tell us about what that problem is, and the deepest human problem is sin. This world is tainted by sin. We live in a world that the Bible would describe as in some sense is broken. It’s fallen, it’s cursed. It is like a cracked mirror. And yet, yes, there’s a goodness still to it, but there’s a deep brokenness to it. We’re affected by other people’s sin and a fallen world generally, but of course, as well we also live with our own sinful hearts. And the Bible tells us we were made to find a deep sense of contentment and rest in God, but it’s actually our own sinful hearts. The inclination of our hearts is to lead away from that rest in God and to turn in on ourselves. And we actually doing that if it feels good in the moment. But actually we’re turning away from the contentment we were actually designed for, the contentment we’re supposed to find in God.
Leah Sax:
Could you just give us a brief description on how you would describe sin?
Simon Dickson:
Sin is to turn away from our creator. We’re made to find the right way, the good way to live loving God and following his commands. A bit like imagine a tree with its leaves pointed up towards the sun. It’s meant to live like that and find it its life and its way and pointed in that direction. But actually sin is is turning our backs on our creator, going our own way. And it’s more like a tree with branches that are just grown in on itself, and the leaves wither and the fruit becomes bitter. So sin is turning its back on loving God and on following his commands.
Adam Curtis:
It’s so interesting because hearing about sin, it’s so emotionally hard to hear about. And yet at the same time, I’ve always found the Christian, the biblical understanding of of sin to be emotionally satisfying and also to be academically satisfying. We often hear about people’s explanations of the world which don’t have sin, uh, within within that. And actually, it’s deeply flawed. If you have an understanding of the world which says that it was good, but it is now broken and it’s waiting to be, Waiting to be restored. Then suddenly that explains our reality and the tensions and the pain and the difficulties that we feel like on an everyday sort of basis.
Simon Dickson:
The Bible word for it is repentance, which means turning back towards God. And actually go back to the tree metaphor. That’s like the tree the branches moving from turned in on itself and turned down back up towards the sun and to towards light and towards life and goodness. And so, yes, hearing about sin is confronting to us. It does confront us. And repentance is hard and difficult in our lives. But. Certainly our theme today of contentment. It is the way towards the kind of contentment we were actually designed for. The humility of it is to recognise, actually, God. I’m trying to be content in all the wrong places. That’s why I’m discontent. I’m going to do this painful step of repenting and turning back to you, and you promise to find life to the full and contentment for me in doing that.
Adam Curtis:
Okay, if this is the situation, this timeless problem, this timeless problem of sin, of this rebellion against God, why are the self-help YouTubers? Why are they then so unable to solve this problem?
Simon Dickson:
I think they can’t diagnose the problem correctly and so they can’t prescribe the right medicine. I think they just don’t go far enough back. If the human problem of discontentment is caused by sin, it’s all about our relationship with our creator. The secular YouTube self-help guys don’t do that. I think what they can offer is, well, as Christians, we could call common grace. Um, which another way of saying, you know, you don’t need a Bible or some special revelation from God to work this out. Just kind of common sense, you know? For example, Jordan Peterson might tell men to clean their room and look after their sock drawer. And it sounds very simple and it’s just common sense. But people talk about that having a profound effect on their life. Some young men, some it might be scientific sense. Uh, Andrew Huberman’s, a neuroscientist very popular on YouTube at the moment. He’s got some helpful scientific stuff to say about vitamin D in the winter. You know, get some sunlight on your eyes and those kind of things. Um, they can offer those things which can really help affect contentment to some extent. But what they can’t do is that what you could call supernatural grace? Um, because,
Leah Sax:
Yes,
Simon Dickson:
They’re just as confused as you and I. They’re just as human and limited as us. They’re like people scrambling around in the dark trying to find the light switch, and they can’t comprehensively understand life and the universe and me. And so often they might go back to evolutionary roots to try and understand what makes us tick. Um, you know, again, again, the story is, you know, what was it like when human beings were first evolving or something like that, but they’re just not going back far enough in the human story. And that’s where Jesus is, the point of difference.
Adam Curtis:
But is Jesus then just another self-help guru? Is he another guy who’s just got some some good ideas to make life flow a little bit simpler?
Simon Dickson:
The answer to that is no. And the point of difference with Jesus is yes he has literally got things to say to help you, but the point of difference is that he makes ultimate claims, ultimate claims of help, and they come from him saying he is ultimately Lord. He’s not just claiming to be a human, or even like a clever one, or a neuroscientist or a psychologist or whatever, but fully human and fully God. And so this claim of lordship that he makes is a real game changer. He says if he’s the creator, he is the one who fully understands his creation. He’s not the guy with the light switch off, scrabbling around for the dark. He invented the light switch or something like that. Yeah, I know it’s a bit like your computer. You’re having trouble and you’re fiddling about. You ask a couple of mates, you get nowhere. But like, imagine if you’ve got Bill gates to come in and fix it for you. He made Microsoft Windows. He’s the one who’s going to understand the problem, have the best go at fixing it. Jesus is the maker of us, of the universe. So when he speaks into our lives, he can fix the problem with the knowledge and ability of the creator and of the Lord. And that is a real point of difference which humans can’t match.
Leah Sax:
Yeah, it’s so exciting that he is our creator and he’s our master.
Simon Dickson:
Yes. Yeah. He’s master. So as master, he demands exclusive devotion and worship, if you like. While our lives on social media and YouTube self-help options are actually very piecemeal and we are like magpies, we take bits from here, bits from there, and it doesn’t all holistically fit together. But Jesus demands as master a whole way of life, of the best life, because it’s it’s not piecemeal. The help he offers, it understands all of us at every level. So he’s not just speaking to us at a physical level or a psychological level, but all of it physically, psychologically, spiritually, emotionally, etc., etc. Jesus addresses us and and offers life to the full at every level. Because he is the creator. He’s the only one who can ultimately speak into this. He’s the only one who can fix that problem at that depth of level, and he’s the only one worthy of exclusive devotion and worship with YouTube self helpers with humans. Like, of course it’s piecemeal and we’re magpies with who we who we go to for different stuff because no one’s worth following your entire life around one YouTuber you subscribe to. But Jesus is. He’s the only one worth giving all of our life to. As our creator and as the Lord. He has the right design for us to live by.
Adam Curtis:
Okay, so then going back to this topic of discontentment and contentment, why do we need to hear Jesus’s voice in our lives to find contentment?
Simon Dickson:
I think for contentment, we need to find a source of contentment, a rock to stand on, a source of contentment that’s external to us. Because if we only have source of contentment, that’s internal. That’s based on what I think or what I feel. For example, you know, I just don’t care what anyone else thinks of me. I’ll be the judge of myself type of thing. It just doesn’t work with any self-awareness. We know we have to deal with guilt. We’ve got a conscience. And I think that will lead to discontentment Long term. If you try to internally find contentment within yourself. You’re butting up against the reality of sin and guilt. So you’ve got to find a source of contentment that’s external rather than internal. It’s gotta be the right kind of external source. So the next tempting place to go to, to base our contentment on is on circumstances. So circumstances, just the situation you’re currently in. Like the job I got, the house I’ve got friendship group, relationship status, what’s in the bank balance, the holiday coming up, that kind of thing. It’s very easy to base our circumstances on that. But the issue with that is it’s very fragile, like we don’t know what’s around the corner at any point.
Simon Dickson:
The job you have today could be taken away from you in days, weeks. We’re small, we’re fragile and just we’re just not in ultimate control of our circumstances. And so we want a source of contentment that’s external, but one that is strong and unchanging. And I think as well, we need a source of contentment that gives a, well, obviously a positive verdict on us if it’s external, but it only gives a negative one. Um, we’re not gonna be very content because we’re going to be left constantly having to, to prove ourselves if there’s possibility to do it badly. So we need an external source of contentment that gives us a positive verdict. Strong. It’s fixed. It’s firm. It’s not just, you know, mercurial or up and down or like the whims of a crowd. And actually, Jesus is the only one who can give us that kind of ultimate verdict to give that kind of lasting contentment one that is external to us, one that’s positive and one that’s unchanging. And I think once that’s the baseline of how you think about yourself, I think all the ingredients are there to seek for the kind of contentment and to find the kind of contentment we were designed for.
Adam Curtis:
Okay, so Jesus can give us a verdict which is external to us because he’s our master and he’s our creator, he can give us a verdict which is unchanging because he’s the eternal Lord. The big question then is, well, what is that verdict? What is the verdict that Jesus has of us?
Simon Dickson:
It is the verdict, as you say, of our creator. Um, and that matters if this is what God thinks of me, my creator and the Lord, the ultimate appointed judge, why does anyone else’s matter? I think that kind of pales in comparison. Um, so that’s the first thing. Is the verdict of a of a creator. The verdict ultimately is positive. Um, Romans chapter eight, verse one. Paul writes, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, no condemnation. The language he uses there of how that happens is in Christ Jesus. And this is a doctrine called union with Christ. The picture is like a Christian, is like a bookmark in a book, uh, where the book goes up, the bookmark goes where the book goes down, the bookmark goes to spiritually. The Christian by faith is in some sense united to Jesus in his death on the cross for sin. My sin punished on the cross. Not me taking taking the hit for that, but Jesus taking the sacrifice for me down into death and then raise up to life. I participate spiritually in the resurrection as well. I receive new spiritual life and rebirth, and one day I will have that physically as well. My body will catch up with what’s already happened spiritually to me. When Jesus raises the dead and brings in a new creation, that’s how he does it. But what it results in is brought us here. No condemnation. The negatively or positively is we’re we’re righteous.
Simon Dickson:
He can call us righteous, meaning right with God. Perfect. Spotless. Holy. This is the best of report cards back from the creator and Judge of the universe. I haven’t done anything to deserve it. It’s all Jesus’s work for me. Um, so we’re declared righteous. So Jesus is verdict of us. God’s verdict of us is not just an important one because he’s our creator, but it’s also a positive one. It is one of being righteous. And the good thing as well, is we can often get some quite important positive verdicts in our life. I don’t know your your latest work performance review or something like that. You know, you work hard one year, you get a good one, but it’s all up for grabs. The next year. It can change that verdict, but it is an ultimate verdict. It is unchanging because God is unchanging and Jesus is work of dying on the cross for sins, and rising to new life is once and for all. It’s fixed. This verse in the Bible, Lamentations 3:22 that says, the faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. God himself never changes. He’s always faithfully loving. So his verdict on us never changes. Jesus work is once and for all. And that’s why I just think as a baseline, to base your sense of contentment for life on Jesus verdict is a verdict that really matters. Because as your creator, it’s positive. No condemnation, you’re righteous, and that’s not going to change.
Adam Curtis:
If this is the verdict which Jesus can speak over this positive and unchanging verdict, well, how do we actually gain it? How can I gain that verdict?
Simon Dickson:
Yeah, I mean, that’s the million dollar question. And the answer is the million dollar question doesn’t cost you a penny, but it is costly. It is by repentance and faith. You know, Mark, chapter one comes in and he says, repent and believe. Uh, repent and believe. Repent. And we said earlier, it means turning back, turning back to God again. Like that tree that’s been curved in on itself, turning back its branches and leaves towards God, and doing that in faith that Jesus is is your Lord and that there’s grace. I love On this theme of comparing ourselves and contentment. And Jesus told a parable, a story with the meaning about a Pharisee and a tax collector. A Pharisee is the guy who’s the religious kind of keen, been very keen on his own obedience and that kind of thing. The tax collector is like the known. Um, how do you describe a tax collector, guys?
Adam Curtis:
Um, the known wrong’un.
Simon Dickson:
Yeah. Everyone knows that they kind of screw people over for money and that kind of thing. Imagine these two blokes are going into the temple to pray, and the Pharisee actually bigs himself up, and he does that by comparing himself to the obvious bad guy. He’s like, I do x, y, z. I give away my money. I do all these good deeds. I thank you that I’m not like him comparing himself negatively. And again, I think that gets to some of the root of our sin problem of why we compare is we compare ourselves to others to try and make ourselves feel better by pushing them down, we lift ourselves up. He does that, you know, very kind of confident in his own righteousness compared to his other guy. But it’s the tax collector who’s just beats his breast down on his knees and just says the words, God have mercy on me, the sinner. And Jesus says of the two blokes who went home, the one that was justified before God, the one who was in a right relationship with God is the known wrong’un, the tax collector, because he showed repentance and faith. And actually the tax collector is not really comparing himself to anyone, is he? I mean, he’s not certainly not comparing himself to make himself look or feel better. He’s just had a date with honesty. He knows the sin problem in his heart and he asks for forgiveness. Part of repentance and faith will look like we need to stop comparing ourselves to others morally, or ourselves as better than others, you know? Or at least not as bad as them. And like the tax collector, get down on our knees, beat our breast and say to God, have mercy on me, the sinner.
Adam Curtis:
Okay, Simon, we’re in that story. We have this tax collector. He’s beating his breast. He’s having a date with honesty, and he’s crying out to the Lord like, have have mercy on me. What’s his status, then before Jesus?
Simon Dickson:
But that’s where we’re back to Romans eight verse one. Paul says, there’s no condemnation for those in Jesus at that moment Spiritually speaking, that tax collector, the type of person who said that is like the bookmark in the book, he can ask for mercy and be really confident they’re going to get it because their sins have already been punished on the cross in Jesus. That’s already happened, raised up to life, they can be confident that they will have the spiritual life of Jesus resurrection and that spiritual rebirth.
Adam Curtis:
This Language of being raised to life that is just so. It’s so rich because there’s a reason why the language of becoming a Christian in Scripture is new birth, this new life, all these sins, all the crime, all the wickedness, all the evil, it’s been washed away, it’s gone and it’s dealt with. And you’ve got this new life, this new birth to share in Jesus, in that resurrection is to share in that new life, and to know that you stand before your father in heaven, completely free and completely forgiven. And that’s just so beautiful. If we have someone who has cried out to the Lord God and said, Lord, have mercy on me, Jesus is now standing over us with this positive verdict of your righteous before me. What does it mean for me today?
Simon Dickson:
It’s the verdict that puts everything else in its right place, and it’s the verdict from which I just think everything else in life will fall into its right place, where that verdict is strong in our minds. Philippians chapter three, where Paul talks up all the stuff he had kind of before He’s a Christian, you know, he was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was zeal. He’s from the right tribe. He had all this kind of religious CV, all the stuff that in his world was the big deal. And actually he then says, I consider it all loss for the sake of Christ. He’s gained this righteousness, this right status before God through Jesus. And so all the stuff that was massive to him before is actually like rubbish. It’s like garbage. And because of what he’s received through Christ, a big level and life, I think it’s that it means if I’ve got this verdict on me from God, well, actually, what else matters in comparison. In terms of our conversation today about contentment, I think it gives a good base level of contentment. Paul again talks about in his letter to Timothy chapter six says, godliness with contentment is great gain. And he says, the reason for that why? For we brought nothing into the world. We can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we’ll be content with that. So he’s saying his contentment comes from, yeah, he needs the basic necessities of life food and clothing, you know, sleep and a roof over our heads and that kind of thing. But actually, if he’s got this verdict, that is what he really needs in life.
Leah Sax:
That’s a beautiful thing to know. What if you’re not feeling that? What if you feel outside it? What if you’re just struggling at this moment to know that, to believe that, to feel that, to see that in real life?
Simon Dickson:
That is aStruggle and a question which both Christian and non-Christian alike will feel. And I don’t think it’s something that goes away as a Christian, but I think is constantly trying to retune our hearts to sing this tune, so to speak, this tune of grace. Give an example, say someone who feels they feel socially excluded by a friendship group, that’s their discontentment, is they could see there’s a there’s an in-crowd, I don’t know, at the the bar, the drinks after work or the parent at the school gates or something like that. They can see there’s in-crowd. They feel and sense that they’re not in it, and that makes them feel very discontent. I want to say to them that you’re not defined by the verdict of this social group, the verdict that you feel they’ve given you, regardless if you have or not, but you feel that they’ve given you the verdict of excluded and not in. That’s not an ultimate verdict that does not define you, that does not make you. Undesirable or unworthy of friendship or being in the social group. But there’s something higher and stronger, someone higher and stronger, who’s given you a stronger and more important verdict which says loved, precious child of God.
Simon Dickson:
At one sense that doesn’t mean sure, if you want to, you can keep trying to be in the friendship group if you want to, but it doesn’t define you and doesn’t mean you either need to be puffed up when you eventually do make it in, or be crushed when it’s very clear that no, you’re not going to be in it. And social groups is one example, but we give lots, you know, career goals or ambitions. Yes. As a Christian, we have lots of reasons we can be ambitious to the glory of God, and we can want to use the best of our lives and our abilities and that kind of thing to serve him. And that might look like trying to get up on in your career and, and that kind of thing. But we’re not just not defined by it. And that means that you can live life with the highs and lows without either being having a puffed up ego like an overinflated balloon, or just being crushed when, you know the house of cards comes tumbling down. Because we have a baseline verdict on us, which gives a lasting, deep sense of contentment.
Leah Sax:
Oh I love that, Um, on an aside, I really enjoyed the entire metaphors that you’ve been using this entire podcast. And for those of you who don’t know, we have video and we record. I’ve been doing interpretive dance to all his like, trees to the light and the balloons. But Simon, do you have any practical tips on the daily like as you when you’re when you’re struggling? Perhaps that just keep you remembering this truth. Is there anything really practical that you found to be helpful in remembering how to live the truth of this life?
Simon Dickson:
There’s daily steps and habits to put in place with the view to getting long term change. And as I said at the beginning, like long term, just getting grace rubbed into your heart all the deeper, like a massaged marinated chicken breast or something like that.
Leah Sax:
This Is amazing metaphor. Sorry! Right? Yes.
Simon Dickson:
Yeah. So for example, like, you know, praying the Lord’s Prayer every day. My parents did that very wisely with me as a child and day after day that reminds me and teaches me and pushes into my heart that I can call God Father. And I am a child of God. You know, daily habits. They are important and helpful for helping me afresh each day, find my place in this world and for my heart to be seeking rest and contentment in the place it was designed for. Because our hearts are very easily led astray, and we go into stupid places to try and find contentment. I think anything we can do to help our hearts find that rest in the right place would be good.
Adam Curtis:
And if you want to know how, just listen to season one of Delight Podcast.
Leah Sax:
That’s true. We do have a pretty cool Bible prayer meditation episodes.
Adam Curtis:
A final question for me, Simon. So we’ve talked about how this verdict impacts my today, but what about what about my tomorrow? How does this verdict impact my future?
Simon Dickson:
The moments of contentment that we feel in this life are just snapshots. They’re they’re tasters of the infinite contentment and ultimate rest will have in heaven. This verdict we have received now no condemnation. We’re righteous. We receive this. But still in the beginning, in a in a broken world and in a fallen world, when Jesus returns, he’s going to remake this world into a new heaven and new earth without the brokenness in the world, without the curse that makes life full of suffering and sadness as well, and also without the sin that’s left in my heart, without that original sin and guilt and corruption in us. And so the future is bright. The future of heaven is going to be ultimate contentment. Those moments we have of contentment here and now are little preview trailers of the rest and joy and contentment we will have in enjoying God perfectly forever. We’ll receive what we’ve been waiting for.
Leah Sax:
I just love that chat with Simon / Dickie. Um, for me, it was that picture of the.
Adam Curtis:
Thank you For at least recognising it. Simon / Dickie rather than Dickie / Simon
Leah Sax:
Is that that tree just going up to the light and all that language of light seeping through? Is that contentment? It’s not about us. It’s about Jesus and the light that he brings and the fact that on the cross our sins have been taken care of. We are forgiven, we are loved, and we now have that light in our life. And focusing on that and knowing that as identity, that is where that contentment rests.
Adam Curtis:
Amen I just think the way that Simon very powerfully spoke about the usefulness of a YouTube self helper, but also about their lack. And when you compare that lack to what you receive in Jesus Christ, that you actually have a voice, the voice of your maker, the voice of your master, the voice, you can actually give you this positive, unchanging verdict, the voice which declares over you that you are righteous and that is just such a better place to to build your life upon.
Leah Sax:
And as Simon said, the language, a better place in which to rest your heart.
Leah Sax:
Simon, I’ve loved hearing your wisdom on contentment, and today’s bonus question seems fairly apt. Would you mind telling us which Bible verse is currently bringing joy in your life?
Simon Dickson:
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
Leah Sax:
Psalm 23,
Simon Dickson:
Verse one.
Leah Sax:
This is beautiful. Thank you so much for your time on Delight Podcast with us today, Simon.
Simon Dickson:
Pleasure. It’s been a joy to be here. Thank you.
Adam Curtis:
Yeah. Oh, and it’s been a joy to have you.
Leah Sax:
Dickie.
Adam Curtis:
Simon.
Leah Sax:
Thank you so much to Simon Dickson or Dickie or Simon, however you choose to name him for being our guest on episode 21 of Delight Podcast still can’t quite believe we’re at that number. Please do come back next week where we’ll have Jodi Whitehouse as our guest, and we’ll be looking at the topic of generosity. This is Adam and Leah delightfully signing off. Bye bye.
Adam Curtis:
Goodbye.
Delight Podcast 