Off the top of my head, I could define contentment as being satisfied, complete, not lacking or wanting anything else. Fully satisfied sounds like a good description. And in such a phrasing it sounds great! Don’t we all want this? Do we all have this?
For me, it seems that I am in a constant wrestling match with contentment...desiring to be content because I know that godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6) and that Jesus has given me all things, so why in the world or heaven would I not be content in His amazing love and enjoy life with Him! Exactly – good point! I desire that great gain, that enjoyment that Christ came to give us, and above all I want to please my Father in heaven. I also desire the peace that accompanies contentment....a rest of spirit and soul – a settledness. Ahhh – sounds perfect and it is indeed great gain. When we can cease striving, or when we are still, and know that He in fact is God, and I in truth, that we are not!! A great definition of freedom.
And right about the time that I am basking in the fruit of contentment (peace, rest, joy, love, gain) there rises this desire for change, for more, to let go of the old and reach for what is to come. So contentment quickly becomes discontentment and then a hunger for more. The wrestling match begins.
I go from enjoyment to dissatisfaction, knowing that there is something great on its way. The process of God bringing us to that new something great, however is where there is a battle within me. Wanting to maintain a content heart and not become unthankful for what He has done and given, it can become hard to let go and give what we have in order to return to the state of being empty handed before our Amazing Daddy, in order to receive the gifts and treasures that He wants to put into our hearts and hands.
Right about the time that I am able to put down the people and things that I have gained a contentment and satisfaction with and simply surrender, a grace comes to embrace the new and a new contentment begins to grow. But that is just it – contentment must GROW. As we are thankful and we continue to receive from God and recognize His working in our lives, contentment grows...and then when it grows to the point of change, a holy discontent arises, giving way for us to desire the new things in store. Yet I believe the even when we are in a place that we need to let go, and seemingly shed our contentment, God allows the fruit of contentment to compound in our lives and as we choose the right response to change it seems as though we lose our past contentment, but really the new contentment is added to our past measure. Contentment is the fruit of our response to the circumstances of life, which is rooted in the state of our hearts.
I suppose that the wrestling match is resolved when we give up to the grace of God and go with His flow! When discontentment is recognized as a part of the growth of lasting, compounding contentment. As I can see now, it is not a new story or prescription from Jesus – if we give it away, it will come back to us; if we lose our lives for His sake and the sake of the Gospel, we will gain live. God help us to receive the grace for the new and unknown, the things we have yet to see, that will cause more godly contentment to grow in our hearts.
