If I’m being perfectly honest, I was pretty overwhelmed at first when I was given the topic of contentment. This subject is talked about often in churches and Christian circles, and I’ve attempted to study it many times. Yet, I still didn’t feel nearly qualified to write about it, as discontentment was something that I battled with daily. God has worked in my heart tremendously through the research and preparation for this article. My views on what true contentment really is and how to find it has shifted dramatically. While I still struggle with discontentment regularly, I’ve discovered truths in God’s Word that have proven to be effective at fighting it.
The Battle Plan
In order to combat discontentment, we must first understand what it is. The dictionary defines discontentment as “a lack of satisfaction with one’s possessions, status, or situation”. Discontentment is an unpleasant sin that can reveal itself in pretty much every area of our lives. It’s destructive and can make our hearts feel troubled and unsettled. Not only that, but it can also be the root of many other sins. Anger, jealousy, and bitterness are just a few examples of the sins that can bloom from the seed of discontentment. Contentment, on the other hand, is defined as “a peaceful ease of mind”. That sounds pretty nice to me! But how do we actually reach this state of true contentment? I’ve found a couple of practical tips that have been especially helpful in my own quest for contentment.
The first step is making sure that we have a true and accurate view of God and His characteristics. Wrong thinking about God can often lead to wrong thinking about other things. Discontentment shows our dissatisfaction with God and what He has given us. It reveals that we feel entitled; like we deserve more than what we’ve been given. We can also feel deprived as if God is withholding things from us that we think are rightly ours. Most of the time, these feelings are probably subconscious and not feelings that we are actively entertaining. However, recognizing these underlying thoughts is crucial in shifting our mindsets. Our focus needs to be on God and who He is. A.W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us”. If that’s really true, then we want to make sure that we see God for who He really is, and not in a way that’s been warped by feelings of entitlement or bitterness. The truth is that God is a generous God. The punishment that we deserve for our sin is eternal separation from God. But God, in all His generosity, sent His one and only son so that we might be saved. Not only did He provide us with a way out of eternal condemnation, but He also made a way for us to spend eternity with Him in paradise! Apart from salvation, God also gifts us with many blessings during our lives on earth. James 1:17 tells us that every good and perfect gift is from God above, Ephesians 1:3 tells us that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, and 1 Timothy 6:17 tells us that God richly provides us with things for our enjoyment. God is a generous God.
Another truth is that God is a good God. Discontentment can also stem from a lack of trust in God. Fear and worry that He won’t provide can leave us discontent with the circumstances that we are in. But countless verses in the Bible reassure us of God’s goodness (Mark 10:18, Psalm 25:8, Psalm 34:8 to name a few). And Romans 8:28 promises that God works all things out for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose. Isn’t it wonderful to remember that our lives are in the hands of our good and perfect Father? Matthew 6:25-33 reminds us that God knows what we need and that He cares for us. We can find assurance in these passages and rest knowing that we have a good God who is in control of all.
After we’ve worked on making sure that our mindsets are correct, we must practice continuously giving thanks to God for all that He’s done for us. It’s a command that we are given throughout Scripture (Psalms 107:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Colossians 3:15). We should be thankful because God’s Word tells us to be, but also, after learning all about God’s generosity, thankfulness should be the natural response! We must practice gratitude so much that it becomes our default setting when circumstances are tough.
The last point that I want to make here is that we can only reach a state of true contentment with God’s help. In Philippians 4:12-13, Paul says that he has found the secret of being content in any and every situation. He can be content through Christ who gives him strength. It is not something that we can achieve on our own. But through the strength of Christ, we can find the peace and joy that comes with contentment. If we have God, we don’t need anything else. We may think that earthly pleasures or that the next thing will satisfy us, but it will only leave us empty and wanting more. Only God can ever fill the part of our hearts that was created for Him! Whenever I struggle with feelings of discontentment, I remind myself of Psalm 23:1 which says, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing”. The more I get to know God, the more I realize that He is all that I need. True contentment doesn’t have to change with the seasons because our contentment is in an unchanging God!