Chasing Contentment

For the past few months, I have felt in increasing level of frustration in regards to life in general. I know that I’m not alone in this. A lot of people that I’ve talked to have also expressed feelings of anxiety, frustration, disillusionment, anger, and depression.

This year, I have been seeking God for direction, sensing that change was coming, but it felt like no matter which way I turned, I was faced with a closed door. I found myself trying to force open the doors – never a good idea – and through all of it, I could feel my frustration mounting.

In my devotional reading this week, I came across a passage in Psalms that spoke to the condition of my heart. Psalm 29:1-3

I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.” 2 So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good. But my anguish increased; 3 my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:

As I thought about that verse and how it convicted me – especially verse 3 – “my heart grew hot within me, while I meditated, the fire burned.” It was like this verse as written about me. It was then, I realized that it was not direction I was missing. It wasn’t that my co-workers were the cause of my frustration. It wasn’t that people weren’t doing what they said. It all boiled down to the fact that I had allowed discontentment to worm its way into my spirit.

Don’t get me wrong. I love God. I know he loves me. I love the ministry opportunity he has given me through H2O. I absolutely believe the truths that I have shared with you. But the reality is, I’m human. I struggle with the same challenges that you do. So this is me being transparent to you with a current struggle I am facing and hoping that the things that I am learning on my journey can be useful to others who may be struggling with the same challenges.

Since putting a face (discontentment) on this particular struggle, I have been asking myself (and God) one question.

What did the apostle Paul know about Contentment that I clearly need to learn?

In Philippians chapter 4 Paul tells the readers at Philippi

Philippians 4:11–13 NIV

11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

What did Paul know that we don’t? What is the secret of being content? And, how can we get it?

The first thing I see from Paul’s writing is that:

1. Contentment is not based on our circumstances.

11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

We live in a country of abundance. We can get almost anything we want delivered to our front doors. We have freedoms that are not enjoyed in other countries.

Yet regardless of our abundance, we have really high percentage of discontentment.

A 2023 Gallup survey found that only 50% of American adults were "very satisfied" with their lives. More than 75% of Americans also reported feeling "very" or "moderately" stressed out by high inflation.

Everyone is always looking for something or someone to make they happy; to fill the void.

We shop, we eat, we travel, we play, we work, we accumulate…. All in an effort to make ourselves “happy”. Yet none of those things work and the endless cycle of wanting more and doing more to capture the ever-illusive feeling of contentment continues in a never ending loop.

As I think about contentment, and discontentment, I’m reminded of the Parable of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15:11-32.

11 “Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.”

There’s so much to this account. So much to be found between the lines of the story.

The younger son – feeling like he has to find his own way. We sense that he is feeling discontented living in his father’s home with his every need met, but it doesn’t say what. Something is missing for him. He asks for his inheritance and goes out in the big wide world to find it.

On the surface, this younger son has it made, yet by his actions he is not content with the life that he has.

Contentment is NOT based on circumstances. How many of us and tried to find contentment by changing our circumstances with a new Job, a new house, a new city, a new….. You can fill in the blank with whatever you want – but I know from experience, that true lasting contentment was not found in any of those things.

The second thing that we can learn from Paul is that:

2. Contentment is learned.

(12) I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

One writer put it like this: “Paul knew what abundance was like, but he also often went without food. He knew what it was like to sleep in the cold. He really did know what it meant to be brought low. Paul learned contentment as he followed Jesus; he learned what mattered. We might wish that a certain crisis would break us from our love affair with this world, but contentment isn’t learned in a single crisis. It’s learned through exposure to times of need and times of plenty. It involves a regular struggle to believe that Christ is enough. It involves us going through the school of need and the school of plenty. Both schools offer various tests that we must take.”

The younger son – the prodigal had to learn this lesson the hard way.

Luke 15:14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16 He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’

The apostle Paul wasn’t just speaking in platitudes when he said he had “learned” to be content”. He had ample opportunities to practice contentment. In his letter to the church in Corinth, he writes:

Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless; we labor, working with our own hands. (1 Cor 4:11–12)

… by great endurance, by afflictions, by hardship, by difficulties, by beatings, by imprisonments, by riots, by labors, by sleepless nights, by times of hunger … (2 Cor 6:4–5)

Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. On frequent journeys, I faced … hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and lacking clothing. (2 Cor 11:25–27)

Which brings me back to this statement by the writers of “CHRIST-CENTERED Exposition: EXALTING JESUS IN PHILIPPIANS”, Tony Merida and Francis Chan, “contentment isn’t learned in a single crisis. It’s learned through exposure to times of need and times of plenty. It involves a regular struggle to believe that Christ is enough.

Which brings us to our third and final insight from the Apostle Paul.

3. True lasting Contentment Is found only in Jesus Christ

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

This statement in verse 13 is not meant to be a mind over matter mantra that we repeat over and over again to get us through a challenging time.

This statement is a foundational truth. A truth that the apostle Paul shared with his original audience and is still sharing with us today. When our contentment is found in Jesus Christ, we can weather any storm. We can face any giant. We can navigate this life knowing that there is nothing we can add to our existence that will replace the Jesus factor.

If Christ is our strength, then we can and should be able to be content in every situation or circumstance.

The prodigal son learned this the hard way. He always had his father’s love. He always had his father’s provision and care. He always had his father’s protection. But when he left the care of his father to find “contentment” somewhere else, he found that he was searching for something he already had. When he experienced his “v8” moment – when he came to himself-, he knew that running back to the father was his only option. Life as his father’s son was Enough.

Picking up the story in verse 20 –

20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21 Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. [1]

The father joyfully and lovingly brought him back into the family; not as a servant but as a beloved Son with all of the rights and benefits of a son.

This is what the apostle Paul is talking about. As children of the most high God, we have access to all of the rights and benefits of sons and daughters. It is only when we are living within the protection and care of the Father that we have true contentment – the ability to do and face anything and everything we are tasked with in this life because of He who lives in us.

There is an old Chorus that I came across when unpacking my music books recently.

Written by Chris Tomlin & Louie Giglio, Enough says it all.

All of you is more than enough for all of me, For every thirst and every need You satisfy me with Your love, And all I have in You is more than enough

You are my supply, My breath of life, And still more awesome than I know You are my reward, worth living for, And still more awesome than I know

All of you is more than enough for all of me For every thirst and every need, You satisfy me with Your love And all I have in You is more than enough

You're my sacrifice, Of greatest price And still more awesome than I know You're my coming King, You are everything And still more awesome than I know

More than all I want More than all I need You are more than enough for me More than all I know More than all I can say You are more than enough for me

In closing I want to leave you with something to think about.

Stop chasing contentment. Stop trying to fill that “God shaped hole” in your life with things. Instead be intentional and chase your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah 29:13: When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart.