Contentment

This past December I was genuinely struggling with it being my daughters last Christmas at home. You see, she’s getting married in October and we absolutely adore her fiance,’ but I was just flat out miserable about “losing” my first born. I wanted everything to be perfect…cookie making, gingerbread houses, looking at lights…all my daughter’s favorites. I didn’t, however, consider that they needed to spend time with his family as well. One day, I passionately expressed my sadness and displeasure to Brandon. He looked me right in the eyes and bluntly but gently said, “Babe, you are discontent.” And you know what? I was!

There are a lot of things that can cause discontentment but thankfully each one has a biblical solution. Today I will be talking about sin that can lead to discontentment and what we can do about it, by looking to Christ.

The first thing we need to look at when dealing with discontentment is to ask whether or not there is sin in our lives. In the story I told above, I’d like to say I answered with grace, by correctly responding, “You are right,” and by confessing my sin right then and there, but I didn’t. Instead, I huffed up and exclaimed, “You don’t understand!” I don’t know if anyone can relate, but it seems that our first response is often a mix of stubbornness and defensiveness. We are human and don’t want to see our sin, but you know what, I WAS definitely in sin and the cause was discontentment.

I believe there are a two main areas of sin that are common with discontentment:

*Comparison- This is so easy to do in our social media driven world. We “see” everything everyone else has (or appears to have). We see the vacations they are taking. We see their new kitchen remodel or how perfect their kids pose in pictures and how they look like they all get along so well. We start to wonder if maybe we are missing out on something. We start to covet. Friends, this is sin. We see in 1 Timothy 6:6-8 that we are to be thankful for what we have. God has provided you with exactly what you need and what He wants you to have. Trust Him.

*Not Reading God’s Word or Praying Daily- I’m not saying this so that you have another box to check on your list of to-do’s. Why I am saying this is because when we get out of fellowship with the Lord and when our focus is on things and not on Him, we wander…in our minds, words, emotions, and actions and this can lead to discontentment. Reading the Word and praying should be practices that we are entering into daily. Colossians 3:16 tells us to let the word of God dwell richly in us. Scripture renews our minds and helps us focus on heavenly things instead of the passing pleasures of this world. Philippians 4:6-9 is a great passage that teaches us not to be anxious but instead to pray and to set our minds on things above. If you are not in the Word daily, you can start today! There are many Bible reading plans out there that guide you through reading the Bible daily. The plan “To The Word” by Canon Press has been a tremendous blessing to me.

The cure for discontentment caused by sin is confession and repentance so that we can be back in fellowship with the Lord (Acts 3:19) We can be sure that once we have confessed and repented that we are truly forgiven. Scripture tells us this in 1 John 1:9. So if you find yourself in discontentment today, ask yourself, “Am I in sin?” and ask God to search your heart and show you any offensive ways within you as Psalm 139:23-24 says. He is faithful and will show you any sin in your life.

In her book Learning Contentment, Nancy Wilson writes “Contentment is a deep satisfaction with the will of God.” We need to ask ourselves if we are satisfied with God’s will for our lives…even if it’s not what we pictured or even if it’s not easy. He tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Though at times this might seem like a tall order just remember He is working all things for your good and for His glory.

–Kassy