I have written and rewritten this article several times, after realizing that I was not content with what I wrote.  I have finally decided that my difficulty in writing about contentment is that I will never be fully content in this world since as a Christian, this world is not my home.  Plus God has not designed us not to merely be content but to have “joy” in His presence!

In order to explain contentment I have broken it down into three categories; content about “who you are”, content about “what you have” and content about “what you do”.  In the first two categories I have learned to be contentment but in the last one “what I do” I don’t think I will ever be content until I am in heaven.

1) Being content about “who you are”:

In order to be content about “who you are” you must come to the realization that you are a person made in the image of God and you must make a decision by grace through faith to become Spiritually reconnected to God (saved from sin and reconciled to God).  If you fail to find contentment in this first category, finding contentment in the other two categories is of no consequence.  One aspect of being made in the image of God is that you are created with an eternal existence … yet you know you face a physical death.  This produces an internal conflict of uncertainty because without the assurance of eternal life in Jesus Christ, you do not know where you will spend eternity.  

Another aspect of being made in the image of God is that you are moral character that knows what is right to do but you naturally do what is wrong.  This makes you discontent with yourself and you try to find a fix for what is wrong with you or to try and block out your nagging conscience.

The solution for contentment in this category is to realize that it is your sin nature that leads you to make wrong moral decisions and it is also the reason that you have a physical death sentenced hanging over your head.  Once you come to grips with realization that it is your sin nature that makes you discontent about who you … then you can repent of your sin nature and ask Jesus Christ for the cure to give you eternal life with Him.  For whom soever believes in Jesus has their sins forgiven and is granted eternal life(John 3:16).  Once you call on Jesus by faith, God’s Holy Spirit will fill you with His presence and you will have the assurance that you are a child of God, eternally secure in Jesus Christ.  Knowing you are forever a born again child of God gives you contentment about “who you are”.

2) Being content about “what you have”:

If you are not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter if you are content about what you have, back up to category (1) for the contentment of knowing “who you are”.  Mark 8:36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”  Therefore in this category of contentment I am talking to people who have chosen to become born again Christians.  Now, the biggest reason Christians are not content with their circumstance is because they are not trusting God to provide for them in their circumstance or deliver them from their circumstances. 

Matthew 6:19; 25-26 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” 

Hebrews 13:5 “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,”  

God loves you the most and wants the best for you.  He created you on purpose and for a purpose.  God will never leave you or forsake you.  He is always with you, living in you, caring for you, comforting you and singing over you.  God always has the best for the believer and the best is always yet to come.  God will deliver you through a storm of life or from a storm of life, but He always delivers.

In some cases bad Bible teaching like the “health and wealth” gospel leads believers to think they have a right to have what they don’t have and this robs then of their contentment.  Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”  Contentment is wanting what you have, not having everything you want.

Paul also explains that contentment is not based on our circumstances but on our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Philippians 4:11-13 “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me”   The secret Paul learned was that His life was hid in Christ Jesus and His contentment was based on that unchanging fact, not the changing facts of his circumstances.

3) Being content about “what you do”:

Once again, in this category I am talking to born again Christians.  If you are content in what you are doing but you don’t have the assurance of eternal life in Jesus Christ, back up to category (1) before proceeding to category (2) and (3).  The biggest hindrance to being content concerning what we do is that we tend to do things according to our own reasoning and not by following God’s will. 

Psalm 46:10 “Cease striving and know that I am God;”  

Striving means you are fighting against God, not necessarily against His will but against His pleasure to provide for you and take care of your circumstances.  This was true in Jacob’s case, where God had promised to make Jacob a great nation but Jacob didn’t want to rely on God to do what He had promised but he relied upon his own scheming methods in order to prosper.  Then one night Jacob’s life of scheming and striving with God culminated in an all night wrestling match with God.  Jacob wrestled to know that he was in control of his life until God finally put Jacob’s hip out of joint to remind Jacob that he needed to trust and lean on God as he walked through life.  And this is what we need to do, lean on the everlasting arms of God.

The problem is not that contentment is difficult to find but that we make it difficult by looking for contentment outside of God’s will.  And even when we do seek and ask for contentment from God, we fail to realize that contentment is not something that God directly blesses us with but contentment is a “byproduct” blessing from God that is given as a result of living holy in God.  Therefore the real secret to being content is to be holy and that my friends is why contentment is so difficult to obtain because our ability to be holy is so difficult to practice.  Being holy is difficult but it’s not impossible or God would not have told us to be that way, 1 Peter 1:16 “because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” 

Most people have the wrong idea about holiness.  They think being holy is something only a priest or nun can do, or perhaps a monk who lives an isolated life of silence and meditation.  Yet, this kind of solitary existence is far from what holiness is.  The best example of holiness is seen in Jesus.  Not only did Jesus pay for our sins by dying in our place but He lived a holy life by living in our place.  Jesus showed us how to live holy … not in isolation from people but right in the middle of people, all kinds of people, every kind of people, from those who considered themselves righteous to those who were consider outcasts of society.  And as aggravating as people can be, the secret to our contentment is hidden in the lives of others, serving them and serving with them.  It is really as simple as breathing, we are to breath in the love of God and breath out the love of God to others.

To live above with the saints I love
Well that’s a thing of glory
But to live below with the saints I know
Well that’s a different story

Jesus was always focusing on people and it was not just when He was teaching God’s word to the masses of people or healing the sick that we see His holiness but when He sat at the well and spoke to the Samaritan woman about her need for living water, His holiness was on display.  And Jesus was just as holy when He ate corn in a field with his disciples as he was when He drank wine and dinned with Tax collectors and Jewish officials.  Jesus was equally holy when He rebuked the Sadducee and Pharisee and drove the money changers from the temple.  Even in rebuking them, Jesus did it out of love, wanting them to turn from the path of destruction they were on.  Life is not divided into the secular and sacred, to God everything is holy and therefore we are to be holy in everything we do.

Holiness means living an obedient life to the the Father’s will.  And not only do we have the example of Jesus’ life that shows us how it’s done but we have God’s living word so we can know God’s will.  Plus as a born again child of God we have God’s Holy Spirit inside our heart to guide us, encourage us and enable us to do God’s will.  We have the love of God in us and the purpose of that love is to share God’s love with others.

God has given us the means to be holy … the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.  And this is where the battle line is drawn concerning contentment.  Usually, there is no contentment from God because the sinful flesh doesn’t want to surrender what is necessary to God in order to have peace with God and contentment from God.  Our flesh desires control over things so others surrender to our will, love from others that is poured out on us and pleasure from taking what ever we want when ever we want.  But God’s spirit within us desires peace through surrender of our will to His will, love from God that we share with one another and joy from knowing God and serving others.

Yes, there is a battle going on inside the soul of the believer, so a Christian will never be fully contentment in his or her earthly body of flesh but the good news is that the Christian can have something better than contentment, the Christian can have “peace, love and joy” that surpasses the contentment of the world.  The solution to all the unhappiness in the world, is as simple as trusting and obeying God in everything, yet though the solution is simple the “execution’ of the solution is very difficult because we have to “deny” self.  “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” – 2 Corinthians 10:5

It was the sin nature of Solomon, the wisest man on earth, that brought him down into despair and caused him to say in Ecclesiastes 1:14 “I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.“  From a human perspective all work we do is vanity since this earth like our body is destined for death.  It will be destroyed one day and a new eternal body and new eternal earth will be created that will not be in vain.  The point is that we are not to labor in vain, trying to build a kingdom on earth for ourselves but we are too seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.  We are to store up treasures in heaven where they do not rust and where we can enjoy the reward, eternally.   

There are other reasons to lack contentment for the Christian and that is where I struggle.  Sometime I get depressed about the bad things that happen on earth rather than being content to do God’s will on earth and trust God to handle the bad things.  I see from the Psalms of David that I am not alone in my distress and despair.  In Psalm 3 David is in distress and cries to the Lord for deliverance from his enemies.

Psalm 3:1 O Lord, how my adversaries have increased! Many are rising up against me.

2 Many are saying of my soul, “There is no deliverance for him in God.”  Selah. 

3 But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head.

4 I was crying to the LORD with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain.

Of course David’s circumstances were much more dire than mine but in terms of God’s will, the size of our problem doesn’t really matter.  It’s knowing the size of our God and who’s in control that matters.  Perhaps in some ways it’s easier to trust and rely on God for seemingly impossible things like deliverance from sickness or to overcome an enemy that is trying to kill you, because in the impossible circumstances we realize that you must rely on God but in the daily demands of life we tend to think we can handle things and do not have to bother God.  This is the big mistake I make and the reason I bring despair on myself, because I think I am in charge.

However, thinking that you are in control of your life is really an illusion … I mean you may be able to snap your finger and put a spoon into your mouth but this is just a capability you have as long as you have breath … but Who controls whether or not you will get your next breath.  This is not something to panic about because a Christian has the assurance that God provides for our needs and when we cease to breath here on earth we will be with the Lord in a better place.  So our worst fear about dying is actually the reason for our greatest joy, for we will be freed from this body of sin and free from the despair we fell because we think we are in control.

Part of the problem of thinking that we are in control of our life is that we are conditioned from youth by the world to take charge and be responsible.  Yet, we are not alone in our fight against the world to provide for our family but God has designed us to be the provider and protector of their family and God empowers a man to fulfill this role.  On top of my desire to provide and protect, I am a computer systems analyst by profession.  I am paid to analyze a system and come up with the best way control it.  My systems analyst mind is always working to bring order from chaos.  That is why I am writing an article called “From Mainframes to Mayhem”.

Therefore, I have to constantly remind myself that although I have some good ideas about order and control, God does not work according to my understanding of how things should be.  He is infinitely wiser and more patient than me, seeing the entire puzzle, not just the pieces in front of me.  And God is not primarily concerned with fixing broken processes to make them more convenient and trouble free but He is primarily concerned with fixing broken people and freeing them from the bondage of sin.  Our Heavenly Father’s first priority is to work in a person’s heart to establish and restore relationships to Himself.  God’s work involves love, interaction and sacrifice which is often accompanied by pain, suffering and chaos.  Most of the time, by grace through faith, I surrender to God’s control in order to be conformed to Christ and bring God’s message of hope to others amid the chaos of the world but many times I just want to find a quiet place to hide and watch the madness of the world go by.

Dying to self and serving Christ is not easy, it can even be overwhelming at times, especially when you have said “yes” to too many obligation.  Even though I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, it does not mean I should be the one doing all the things.  It means I can do whatever God calls me to do, not that I should run myself ragged trying to do everything.  When I am too tied up in fixing things (God’s secondary concern) I don’t have enough time to form relationships with people (God’s primary concern).  Even Jesus rested and avoided the crowds when he was tired.  I think the key thing we can learn from Jesus life on how to have contentment and joy of purpose is “to pray, pray, pray”.  Jesus prayed in the evening and in the morning and spent his entire day in sweet communion with His Heavenly Father.

One of the best lessons that my pastor frequently reminds us of is that we are not in charge of results, we are only in charge of our faithful effort.  We are rewarded according to our toil and diligence to serve Christ and to seek His righteousness, not according to the results of our toil.  Being free’d from the responsibility of the outcome and results in this world is the greatest freedom known to man.  This is the “easy” yoke that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 10:30.  God’s path for us is to seek His righteousness which leads to peace with God and gives us joy from God.  While the world’s path is do seek pleasure which leads to feeling guilty which leads to the remorse that must ask forgiveness from God or suffer the hardening of the heart.

And Jesus was never stressed out or hurried about what to do, even when Lazarus died Jesus didn’t race back to heal him and He didn’t feel guilty when Martha and Mary said he should have gotten back sooner so their brother wouldn’t have died.  Therefore, in order to serve the Lord better I need to learn how to say “no” and I need to learn to pray about what God wants me to do and maximize my effort in that area.  God’s main interest is in people not processed, so praying for others is a top priority.  I want to please God but being stressed out because I am involved in too many things is not pleasing to Him or good for me.

One final thing, contentment is not just a matter of “positive thinking”.  Yes, self help techniques and drugs can satisfy an agitated mind … for a while but in reality man’s way to deal with issues is just a band aid fix applied upon mortal wound.   But praise God there is a medication that does work and that is to meditate on the word of God.  The more you know God’s word, the more you know what God has promised to do.  And the more you trust and obey the promises of God, the more you will know God and become intimate with Him.  This is the way it was for Abraham and God called Abraham his friend (James 2:23).

More importantly, you will not have wasted a period of your life where you were running from the Lord trying to satisfy yourself by your will, not God’s will.  I am not talking about about a “hope so” kind of contentment that is based on human reasoning but a “know so” kind of contentment that is based on God’s word, a blessing I can enjoy now and forever.  Psalm 27:4 “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Like I said before, I know that I will never be fully content in this world because as long as I live on earth I have my enemy flesh that want to be comfortable in the world while my new born Spirit wants to be holy and content in Christ.  I try not to beat myself up too badly over my failures to be content because I know “He who began a good work in me will complete the holy work in me” Phillippians 1:6.  Also, like I said, I know I will never be fully content in this world because this world it is not my home.  This is a world fallen in sin and destruction and death but God has not designed us for sin or destruction or death but we are designed by God for life, eternal life in His Son Jesus Christ and an eternal existence free from sin on a new Heaven and Earth!  For the Christian the best is always yet to come.  These trails and troubles on earth will be gone when we are taken from here but even in the midst of the storm we can take comfort in Jesus, who lives with me.

That’s where Jesus lives with me.
In this land of misery.
And I have hope and I have peace,
Cause my friend Jesus lives with me.

That’s where Jesus lives with me
In my heart eternally.
And I have blessing I can’t see,
Cause my friend Jesus lives with me.

– Rogersings

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