Does anyone really experience contentment today?
That question was posed to us recently as we taught about contentment to a small group Bible study.
When I ask most people what contentment means to them, most people express the idea of having peace in their lives. A sense of peace is probably included in feeling content. Contentment goes beyond peace. Being content includes being satisfied with what one has.
When we compare what we have to others, we rarely compare ourselves to those who have less than we have. Invariably, we compare our life to those who have more.
When a child become dissatisfied with his life, he usually wants the clothes, gadget, or car that he sees his friends having. A child rarely comes home and says, "I am so fortunate. I have so much more than other kids at my school." It is usually more like, "All my friends have a car. Why can't I have a car?" He compares his life to those who have more, not those who have less.
I like electronic gadgets. I understand discontentment.
He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have. Socrates
In the New Testament, contentment most often refers to one’s financial status or physical circumstance.Looking back to the origins of discontentment helps us see the challenge of contentment today.
The Origin of Discontentment
Adam and Eve had the entire garden, all of perfection at their finger tips. Satan enticed them to be dissatisfied, discontent with what they had. He tempted them to want more. They wanted the one thing that God said that they couldn’t have – the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In Genesis 3:2-5, Satan challenged God’s Word to the first couple.
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say,
‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Satan really was trying to say to them, “God is withholding something good from you. He has something that He doesn’t want you to have."
Satan still tempts us in the same way. Instead of taking stock of what we do have, of the abundance of what God has given us, we start wanting more possessions or different experiences.
Since the fall, mankind has become restless. He is not satisfied with what he has. He wants what he does not have.
Have you ever know people who are always looking for the newest, latest deal to make money?
...Or the quickest new way to lose weight?
...Or they are unhappy in the their marriage because they think that a different person would make them happier?
The very first temptation in the history of mankind was the temptation to be discontent…that is exactly what discontent(ment) is – a questioning of the goodness of God. Jerry Bridges
What do we call that? That is coveting. We covet something we don’t have. We think about. We are unhappy or dissatisfied until we get it.
The antidote for covetousness is contentment. The two are in opposition. Whereas the covetous, greedy person worships himself, the contented person worships God. Contentment comes from trusting God. John MacArthur
We see discontentment in almost every area of life today.
“I want a bigger house.”
“I need a newer car.”
“I wish I had a (fill in the name of the latest electronic gadget).”
“Other women have husbands who will listen to them. I need someone who will listen to me; my husband doesn't listen."
What is true contentment?
And what does this have to do with marriage?
See our next post!
