If you follow my personal blog, Kingdom Lessons (which I admit is sorely out of date), I’ve been on a cleaning kick for over a year. It all started when I wanted to do a deep clean on my house, only to discover that it’s not possible to deep clean with heavy bookshelves full of books everywhere. This started a full-fledged clean-out process, one that’s progressively done in stages. I’ve cleared out some clothes, shoes, overstocks on office supplies, and yes, books…with more to go. As I’ve gone along, I’ve thought a lot about a single, very important principle: contentment.
We live in a world that tells us our contentment level is directly proportionate to how much we have. We’re encouraged to amass large quantities of things. The basic mentality: bigger is better, more is better, and the more we have, the more content we will be. The world feeds our discontentment because it creates consumerism; the more discontent we are, the more we search to find discontentment in different ways. This keeps us listening, seeking, and eventually buying anything that we think might lead to happiness. If we keep it up, we think we will, at some point in time, find what we hope will satisfy.
It doesn’t help that from the time we are young, we are encouraged to both “keep up with” and compete with others. The world drives us to find malcontent rather than peace and push to want, seek, and do more. It’s no wonder we find ourselves dissatisfied. So how can we find contentment?
The importance of contentment
In Philippians 4:10-11, the Apostle Paul says:
I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. (NIV)
In the Greek, the word “content” means “self-complacent, content” (Strong’s #G842). The term is exactly what it sounds like; the Apostle Paul had learned, regardless of what might be going on in his life, to be content (not controlled by external circumstances). In every situation, he saw God’s hand at work. It’s easy for us to think Paul had plenty of reason to be content…but think about it. Paul dealt with persecution, admonishment, countering false teachers, abandonment, and an entire life switch when he went into ministry. Regardless, he learned how to be content in every circumstance. There’s no real secret to it, beyond recognizing God’s grace is sufficient for every need. Paul knew that God was still God in every circumstance and he accepted each moment as part of a bigger journey. Here we will examine five different principles to help in that process.
Be grateful for what you have
The Bible speaks often about giving thanks and being grateful. Society also speaks on the benefits of gratitude. This tells us that as a universal principle, gratitude is an important part of living. Intimately connected to gratitude is the idea that we are to give thanks in all things. This doesn’t mean we are thankful for everything, but that no matter what’s going on, we recognize God in our situation.
…give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV)
Gratitude is essential because it helps us be in the moment rather than in the future or the past. With gratitude, we never get too far behind or ahead of any situation.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting more out of life or hoping for change. There is something wrong with being so preoccupied with such that you have no sense of what God is doing in your life right now, in this moment. Life is never going to be perfect, nor are things going to always go the way we might hope. Regardless, gratitude goes a long way in helping us find a sense of contentment.
Stop the “if/then” cycle of happiness
Most of us are waiting for something to come into our lives, thinking it’ll change everything. “If this happens, then I will be happy.” It gives us the idea that our contentment rests in a permanent state of happiness…which doesn’t exist. Happiness comes and goes with situations, and isn’t a reasonable life goal. Hebrews 13:5 warns us:
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have… (NIV)
It’s important to remember that godliness and contentment leads to great gain. In other words, if we are godly people and content, it will benefit us more than any amount of things or money. Waiting for things to be different to feel different leads to personal discontentment. Every level of faith has its complications and issues, and as long as you are a Christian, you will deal with spiritual warfare, no matter what’s going on in your life.
Focus on God’s transformation within you instead of on everyone else
For your own sanity, you need to stop comparing yourself to other people. Instead, it’s more beneficial to look at how far you’ve come with God. You’re not where you were a few years ago, and that needs to matter. If we are measuring ourselves against others, we will always feel like we fall short. But we aren’t born again so we can do what everyone else does, no matter how great those things might be. Your story isn’t anyone else’s, and maybe you’re not here to do ministry like they do, or dive into full-time international missions, or have a standard family or social life. You’re here to serve God, and maybe God needs you in a way that He doesn’t need someone else.
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. (Ephesians 3:15-17, NIV)
To do this, the first thing I recommend is limiting social media time. There are a number of studies that prove social media is good for commerce, but not for our self-image. We’re often comparing ourselves with situations and relationships that aren’t always real (or at least not what they seem). It doesn’t help we are inundated with ads, fake news headlines, and the frustration of never-ending political opinions. We often speak of fasts relating to food, but sometimes we need a fast of a different kind. A social media fast, or fasting from personal comparisons, over-spending, or being in everyone else’s business can also do wonders to help us gain better focus on where God would have us to be.
Don’t procrastinate
To understand procrastination, we must first realize the difference between procrastination and waiting. All of us will experience periods of waiting in our spiritual lives. If we are honest, most of our spiritual lives are spent waiting on one thing or another. We believe God for something, we stand on that promise, we wait, we experience breakthrough, and then we start the process all over again. There are many periods where we don’t know what’s next and we wait for God to give us further direction. This is waiting; it is the patient process of developing necessary skills while we wait for God to reveal what’s next. Procrastination is when we know what we are supposed to d0 – we have clear direction and information – and for one reason or another, we avoid doing it.
When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. (Ecclesiastes 5:4-5, NIV)
The Bible tells us it’s better to never make a dedication or vow to God if we aren’t prepared to follow through on it. If we’ve promised to follow God all the way, we must be read to follow wherever that takes us (even if it gets uncomfortable). Delaying assignments doesn’t make them go away, but prolongs them. You never know what timing factors might be involved in an assignment, and aligning with God in tasks helps bring about a sense of contentment.
Keep your word and God’s Word
Sometimes things happen beyond our control. We might forget we promised to do something, circumstances come up and postpone or delay other things, and sometimes things are beyond our scope. I acknowledge these are realities; I’ve had experience with every one of these situations before. However, sometimes we make excuses for ourselves, say one thing and do something else, or we don’t follow through on something because it’s no longer convenient or advantageous. These situations aren’t honorable.
Discontent can easily come about in one’s life because they have trouble keeping their word. As believers, we are “word people” because God is good to His Word. Even if it takes a long time, Scripture tells us God’s word doesn’t return void:
So is My word that goes out from My mouth:
It will not return to Me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11, NIV)
God provides His Word in every situation, and I don’t just mean Scripture (although Scripture is amazing). The spiritual gifts, the word of wisdom and word of knowledge both relate to the idea of prophetic revelation, sometimes specific to either you or more general. Overall, to keep God’s Word, we must make sure when we receive direct, divine revelation, we obey it. We keep these words as a reminder and motivator to keep obedient to divine promises as well as our own promises, too. It all goes together!
In our next column
In my next column I will look at another five principles to finding contentment. Finding contentment goes a long way to enhancing our lives as believers, our relationship with God, and with others. God doesn’t bring us to faith to make us miserable, but to help us find our satisfaction in Him.
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