How to be Content
Sometimes life can feel overwhelming. Work can be demanding. The people around us may be suffering, or at times, insufferable. Our health can deteriorate. Responsibilities can feel like heavy weights. Maybe you are reaping the fruit of previous bad decisions. Sometimes our problems seem so great that they feel beyond fixing.
How do you carry on when it feels like the weight of the world is crashing down around you?
Contentment is a powerful answer.
To be content means to have a mind that is at peace and satisfied, regardless of the circumstances around you. Complaints, objections, arguments, worry, and constant dissatisfaction often reveal a lack of contentment. Discontentment can produce anxiety that paralyzes us from action, or it can drive us to fill the emptiness in our hearts with something temporary that can never truly satisfy.
“[6] But godliness with contentment is great gain. [7] For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. [8] And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.” – 1 Timothy 6:6-8
The difference between content and contention begins with “I”.
Oftentimes, we place expectations upon ourselves that are worldly and vain. We measure our lives according to what the world tells us will make us happy. A bigger house, a newer car, a nicer vacation, a fancy title, a better job: people scratch and claw their way up the ladder only to discover that there is always another rung, and none of it can satisfy the soul. We believe what the world says we need instead of what God says we need.
To be content, we must recognize we already have all we need in Christ alone. To be content, we need prayer and the correct perspective from God’s word which brings peace and hope: it is not about us, but God!
Contentment comes from knowing and reminding yourself of who you are in Christ. By the grace of God, you are saved through faith in Christ’s finished work. You are loved. You are accepted in Christ. You are a new creature. Your standing before God is not based upon your performance, your possessions, your reputation, or the approval of others. Nothing you do can make Christ’s payment more complete, and nothing you do can improve upon the position God has freely given you in His Son. Do not try to earn what was freely given, because you cannot. And do not think His love for you is conditional, because it is not (Rom 3:23-26, 5:8, 8:35-39, 2Co 5:17).
“[4] Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. [5] Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. [6] Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. [7] And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. [8] Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. [9] Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. [10] But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. [11] Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. [12] I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. [13] I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” - Philippians 4:4-13
When you take a step back, pray, and consider all that God has done for you by His grace, your perspective begins to change. Prayer does not mean that every difficult circumstance will disappear, but through God’s word your mind can be renewed and at peace. His truth and love can calm your thoughts, quiet your heart, and give you a reason not to be consumed by worry.
It can even change the way you view suffering. Difficult circumstances can become opportunities to grow in patience, hope, and spiritual maturity while glorifying the grace of God (Rom 5:1-5, 8:18).
Another great thief of contentment is comparison.
We live in a world filled with social media, worldly wisdom, advertisements, carefully edited images, and constant reminders of what someone else owns, achieves, experiences, or looks like. It is easy to become consumed with what we do not have, what we do not look like, where we have not been, or who we are not in the eyes of the world. However, those comparisons rob you of who you already are in Christ and are ultimately unwise and vain.
“[7] Do ye look on things after the outward appearance?...[12] For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” – 2 Corinthians 10:7a, 12
If you seek your validation, worth, or satisfaction in your spouse, parents, family, friends, career, net worth, title, appearance, possessions, or accomplishments, you will eventually be disappointed and dissatisfied. None of those temporal things were designed to satisfy the deepest need of your soul. True contentment is found in Christ and in understanding what God has freely given us through Him (Psa 63:1-8, Rom 8:6, 15:13).
When we begin to comprehend “the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” of the love of Christ, we are strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. Our circumstances may not immediately change, but our thinking can (Eph 3:14-21).
That is the secret of contentment.
Contentment does not mean pretending everything is good. It does not mean ignoring pain, hardship, responsibility, or loss. It means knowing that whatever happens around you, your identity, hope, peace, and eternal position in Christ remain secure. It is the exercise of the spiritual tools we have to bring every thought captive to Christ and view everything in light of eternity (2Co 10:3-5).
The world will continually give you reasons to be dissatisfied. God’s word continually gives you reasons to be thankful. The more we understand who we are in Christ, the less we need the world around us to satisfy us. And when Christ is enough, we can walk through both abundance and need with contentment instead of contention.
