(Contributed by: Ellis Loke)
Fill in the blank: I will be contented when ___________.
Maybe it is that latest smart phone, that classic monogrammed bag or that full-specs car or that month-long European holiday, or a promotion at work or having titles like “Doctor” or “Reverend” preceding our names.
Maybe it’s a friendship or a marriage, or the approval of our father/boss/friends.
Maybe we are hoping to get away from someone unpleasant: a nagging mother-in-law, a good-for-nothing brother, a friend who has betrayed your trust, a psychotic boss.
Our list goes on...
However, we need to know that contentment is NOT a result of another event. It is NOT a pursuit and it is NOT in the future. It is a decision we make
I think this Calvin and Hobbes comic strip perfectly depicts what contentment is like. :)
Paul said: 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (1 Timothy 6:7-8)
We often think of contentment as what we could have. Or who we could or should be. Therefore, someone who is not contented is always restless, always conscious of his “lack”. He worries about his health, what he would eat or drink, what people would think of him. Nothing is ever enough.
So, he is always on the lookout for the next best things and is rarely satisfied. While he professes to be a Christian, his pursuit of life does not differ from someone who doesn’t know Christ: a lucrative career, financial safety, positions of influence and power – it seems like it does not matter if Christ isn’t part of the equation.
Paul added: People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction (1 Timothy 6:9). We often forget that if we “seek first the
Paul is one person who has been through it all. He has the ultimate lineage credentials as a Jew and a very respectable position as a Pharisee, but he has also undergone some of the worst prison and torture treatment. He sums up his life by saying “… I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I 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. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Phil 4: 11-13)
On another hand, contentment is NOT about being complacent. Someone who is complacent is unmotivated and does not care for anything or anyone else. How do we differentiate contentment and complacency?
A person who is contented is grateful for what he has. He loves the simple joys of life (a hearty meal with family, a moment of solitude, being able to bless another person) and acknowledges that God provides for everything. A complacent person is full of self-pity and excuses. He believes that their static situation is as good as it gets and would not do anything to change, because change is unpleasant and he is not willing to pay the price to be better.
The writer of Hebrew exhorts us to “keep [our] lives free from the love of money and be content with what [we] have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." 6So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (Heb 13)
Contentment is a decision to be. We can be contented with only a shirt on our back. A poor person, as described by Proverbs, is someone who does not know how blessed he is: All the days of a poor person are wretched, but contentment is a feast without end (we all like this part, don't we? :)
Do count your blessings today and have a great week ahead!
(Ellis Loke)
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