Finding Contentment

Do you find yourself constantly wishing you had more? You wish you had more or better clothes, more money in the bank, a newer car, or a larger house. When we look around at other people, especially pictures we see posted to social media, it is easy to fall into the trap of wishing we had what other people have.

In Christianity we try to walk a delicate balance as it relates to our material possessions. We must learn to avoid the two extremes. On the one hand some say that the best way to demonstrate humility is to give up everything and live in poverty. On the other extreme are those who say that if you are really living the Christian life then God would be showering you with every blessing imaginable. Some people in poverty think that is proof that they love God more, while some in prosperity think that is proof that God loves them more. The truth is there are godly people that are both haves and have nots.

The goal of the Christian should be to learn contentment. In Philippians 4:11 Paul said, “I have learned in whatever state I am in how to be content.” According to the dictionary the word contentment means satisfaction or ease of mind. The Greek word that contentment translates comes from a word that means sufficiency. Contentment does not mean that we do not want anything or have dreams about having something else or something more. It just means that we realize that the things we do have are sufficient and we have peace of mind because we are not desperately wanting something else. Contentment means satisfaction.

When Paul learned how to be content he was writing those words from jail. Do you think Paul wished to be released from prison? Of course he did! But at the same time he had peace in his mind because he learned to be content with wherever God led him.

I believe the first step towards finding contentment is to realize that everything we have comes from God. He is the one who supplies our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19), and every good gift comes down from above (James 1:17). This takes the pressure off of us. If God wanted us to have more, we would have more. If He wanted us to have less, we would have less. You have what God wants you to have.

The next step towards finding contentment is to realize that our stuff is not the most important thing in life. Jesus said in Luke 12:15, “Be on guard against covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in abundance of possessions.” Some people are known by their stuff. They are known as the guy with the nice boat or the lady with the fancy clothes. But that stuff is all subject to rust and dust. I would rather be known for who I am.

If our driving goal is to have more, even if we achieve it we will not be happy. Ecclesiastes 5:10 tells us “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.” Author Dennis Prager put it like this: “If you equate happiness with success, you will never achieve the amount of success necessary to make you happy… Identifying success with happiness is like moving the goalposts back 10 yards every time a football team has a first down—your team may be more and more successful, but the goal posts will always remain unreachable.”

If you think having more stuff will finally bring you happiness, you will be severely disappointed by that stuff. If a football team advances from the 40 yard line to the 50, but then the goalpost is moved back 10 yards, the team may have found success but the end zone is still 60 yards away. When we learn the art of contentment we do not need the trappings of life to make us happy. When our happiness comes from God—when the joy of the Lord is our strength—then we will have a happiness that the world cannot take away.

To Save a Life

(Like my blog about the peace symbol, this blog was written as a default response to all the parents, students, and other people who are asking my opinion of To Save a Life.) By now you have probably heard of the movie To Save a Life, which opened nation-wide in theaters on January 22nd. The movie deals with so many issues that teens face today, like suicide, cutting, drinking, drugs, premarital sex, teen pregnancy, and abortion. At first glance this movie looks like an awesome resource that we should recommend for our teens, parents, youth pastors, and youth workers. But a closer look at the movie reveals a few disturbing things. For starters, according to pluggedin.com, there are 2 uses of the “A” word, 5 uses of hell (used as a curse word), and once the “D” word is used. There are other crude terms used to describe a girl, and crude terms for referring to sexual activity. There is also a bedroom scene that shows a girl removing a boy’s shirt, then afterwards the girl putting he...

Catechism #15

Q. By what sin did our first parents fall from their original condition?  A. Our first parents’ sin was eating the forbidden fruit. The first sin we see in the Bible was in the eating of the forbidden fruit by Adam and Eve. But as we saw last week, there are sins of commission and omission. The eating of the fruit was an act of commission—a sin that was committed in the Garden of Eden. But before Eve ever took her first bite, a few sins of omission occurred that led up to the sin of commission. First, notice that it was Eve, not Adam, that did all the talking with the serpent in Genesis 3. Yet it was Adam, not Eve, who was created as the spiritual leader of the family. For whatever reason Adam abdicated his role as the spiritual leader and stood silently by as Eve ate the fruit. After Eve’s bite, she gave it to Adam, and he ate it too. Not only did Adam omit his role as leader, Eve omitted her trust in the goodness of God. Not only did she misquote God ...

All Things To All Men

One of our favorite verses to use in our evangelism methods is where Paul said that he “becomes all things to all men” so that he might “by all means save some (I Corinthians 9:22).” This is certainly a good idea if we keep it in its proper context and application. For example, I remember a time in high school where I knew a kid that loved skateboarding. Being the chicken that I am, I was never a skateboarder. All he would talk about was skating, and I knew none of his lingo. But to help develop a relationship with him (he was new to our church and didn’t know many people), I brushed up on my skating lingo so I could ask if he had done any sick ollies lately (impressed?). This would be like Paul saying “to the skateboarder, I became a skateboarder.” This is effective and necessary. But then there are the people that use this verse to justify doing sinful things in the name of evangelism. The first one that comes to mind is about drinking. Some people will go into the bars to evan...

Tommy Mann

Search This Blog