Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.
1 Timothy 6:6-8
The word contentment means “satisfaction in one’s circumstance or position in life”. To be content is to be satisfied with whatever place you find yourself in, assuming your basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter are met. Anything on top of those essentials is just “icing on the cake” – not a requirement to be happy or satisfied.
So, what is it that keeps us so often from being content? For starters, we often look to other’s situations around us and that makes us discontented, dissatisfied with our own lot. We see the money that our friend has, or the children that our neighbor has, or the job, or the intellect, and on and on, and we develop a desire to have more, achieve more. Comparison leads to discontentment. I think Americans struggle more with this than many other nationalities, because of America’s affluence. I live and work in a developing nation, and I frequently travel to other developing nations and have many friends and co-laborers-in-Christ in these third world countries. And what I have learned is that living in an affluent society or being affluent does not ensure contentment. In fact, it may hinder contentment. Because when everyone around you is obtaining more and more wealth, bigger and more expensive toys, and growing their collection of material things – you cannot help but compare your situation to theirs. And if money does not buy happiness, it sure does give the impression of it. When I see the guy in the brand-new pickup truck pulling the brand-new bass boat down to the lake, there is a little part of me (and in any fisherman) that would love to be that guy. I compare myself to his situation, when in reality I know nothing about him! I have no idea what his life is like, what his relationship with the Lord is like, what is going on in his mind and heart – and yet I compare my external circumstance to his, and his seems to be preferential. And as we live in this environment day in and day out, we get caught in a cycle of constant comparison that changes the way we see our circumstance.
Contentment is only real if it would still remain after you stripped everything above basic needs away. The Bible says that if you have a relationship with the Lord and have food and clothes you can and should be content; that you don’t need to compare your situation to anyone else’s. But we often search for more. And when we look past our basic needs for more, we are really looking for something other than Jesus to satisfy us:
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
Hebrews 13:5-6
Without covetousness in this verse means “free from the love of money”. Meaning, we don’t look to get more and more and more material things as the goal of our daily life. The reason we are working should not be ultimately to buy more stuff. We are to be content with the food and clothing that we have. We are to be content with where we are materially. Why? Because the Lord is with us and He is our helper.
Our satisfaction is found in Jesus. When we forget Him, and start looking other places, we lose our satisfaction.
This post is a part of a series of posts that are excerpts from my book “Finding Your Midpoint: Locating the Balanced Positions for Your Life and Ministry” – available on Amazon or wherever books are sold.