Source of Contentment

In some regions of the world winter brings with it cold and harsh winds, pouring rains or snow. Sweaters, coats and boots have to be pulled out for their annual duties during these months. One of the most content moments are those when we can be inside enjoying a cup of hot tea while the windows are being washed with raindrops. Or we find comfort looking out as snow drifts up against the bushes and the doors and great swaths of white connect streets, buildings and parked cars in smooth and undulating ways. We might want to run out and throw snowballs, make snow angels and generally make ourselves freezing cold by all means of winter games—for a short time. But when we run indoors, tossing the coats and boots at the back door, a cup of hot cocoa warms our hands bringing us to a state of contentment.

 

What about you? What images or memories come to mind that always bring back the sensations of contentment? Maybe it is just Saturday morning grogginess when you know you don't have to get up and go to work. Maybe it's the sense of accomplishment after a long run. Maybe it's watching your grandchildren battle for your attention. There are moments and times that become sealed in our memories that evoke those feelings of true contentment.

 

When God gave the Ten Commandments to us, he was doing what our good God does—setting forth laws that protect us and keep us. When Moses descended from the mountain, after having received the Ten Commandments from God, all of the Hebrew people learned that these Commandments have everything to do with our relationship with God and with each other. If we accept God as our only God and worship him alone, then we are enabled by the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to keep the Law set before us, so that we will not sin.

 

Sin separates us from God and God wants us to be with him. Therefore, to keep the Ten Commandments, by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, is to keep the right relationship with God and our fellow human beings. The Ten Commandments are not a set of rules to get you into heaven, rather they are to keep you in God's presence. God's grace always precedes his law. And when we are surrounded by his covenant law and grace great contentment can be found.

 

The final commandment is found in Exodus 20:17. "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." Coveting is parallel to jealousy and envy. It is the looking on at another's belongings, relationships or circumstances and deeply desiring what another person has. Coveting is like stealing in your mind. Perhaps you never lay hands on it, or steal it or touch it, but in your heart and mind you wish to own it so badly that it takes your concentration away, it lures you into daydreams and causes you to lay plans on how to obtain it. Coveting, envy and jealousy can cause you to lose your life, family, joy and peace by longing for things that are not yours and have not been given to you.

 

Sometimes we can dig ourselves into holes of debt and covetousness so deep that there seems to be no way out—all because we want what the people on television have or what our neighbor has or our classmates have. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence—or is it? As surely as a lion will drag away its prey, Satan will clench you in his teeth and drag you away if you are consumed by jealousy and coveting!

 

The story of a monkey is a good illustration of this kind of harmful desire. Surrounded by wonderful fruit in the trees, it sees a narrow, shiny jar with one piece of fruit in the bottom. The monkey puts its hand into the jar to get the fruit. When it grasps its fist around the fruit, it is unable to get its hand out of the jar. The fruit would be accessible to it if only it would let it go, turn the jar over and let the fruit roll out of the jar on its own. Or better yet, the monkey could take its eyes off of something that it cannot get and enjoy the provision freely available in the trees.

 

God makes it possible for us not to steal or covet. Being a thief, or just having a jealous nature, can die through the power of the Holy Spirit. Our focus in life, where we find our treasure (Matthew 6:21), can be discovered sometimes at the darkest moments of our lives. When things like economic hardships, separation from loved ones during a pandemic, or illness takes away our physical freedoms, we can find that we have what we really need. In the Ten Commandments it is God who is the true source of contentment. The source lies outside of a prison cell, outside of good works, outside of the gathering of people, outside of a mountain of Christmas gifts, outside of the accumulation of things.

 

The Source of Contentment actually lives within the believer, making the believer holy and acceptable and willing to sacrifice and give and love in ways that would otherwise be impossible. That Source is Jesus Christ, the love of the Father and the power and strength of the Holy Spirit.

 

The Bible teaches that to be immersed in the love of God raises us up to a different plane of understanding about contentment. We can rise above our difficult circumstances. We can live free of entanglements that would distract us and tie us down to worldly goods and desiring our neighbor's property and relationships. We can know that there is a greater purpose and future for those who are in a loving, covenant relationship with God.

 

The writer in Hebrews penned these marvelous words in 13:5.  Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you: never will I forsake you."  Great and lasting contentment is first found in your relationship with God and then in right fellowship with his family, the Church, and your neighbors. Having a relationship with our loving God is the greatest joy you can know and brings great contentment. Praying with and supporting fellow Christians is a bond that cannot be severed, no matter what the circumstances. Some may have more than others, but what is that to you? It is between you and the Lord to know what is yours to be a steward of, yours to have and to hold, yours to let go of and share, yours to release in final victory. The Source of Contentment, and all of his provision, is available to you today.

 

Contentment Project 

1.     List the things that you do not feel content about. While we are certainly discontent in living in a fallen and sinful world, be sure to identify things that bind you personally to things other than God’s best for your life. If you are courageous enough, ask your spouse or close friends what they hear you complaining about a lot.

2.    The Apostle Paul wrote that he had learned to be content in plenty or in want (Philippians 4:11-13). How can you learn to be content regarding the things you listed in #1? If you do not know, where can you get the resources to learn contentment? Are you willing to learn contentment in these areas? Challenge yourself to pray about these things specifically.

3.   Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in studying the following Scriptures:

a.       Matthew 6:19-34

b.      Hebrews 13:5-6

c.       Psalm 118:5-9

d.      Proverbs 30:7-9

e.       Philippians 4:11-13

f.        1 John 2:15-17

g.      1 Timothy 6:6-16

4.   Write a list of things that you are thankful for. That usually helps to get us to a place of contentment!

  And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

M.R. Hyde

Copyright 2020