The Color of Contentment

Uh oh! I'm going to break my promise. I'm deviating somewhat from the "living loved" theme in this post. It's really related, but a bit of  tangent. ...
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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.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” 

Contentment is an area of life that all of us struggle with at some point in our lives. When I read this passage in the New Testament, in Hebrews 13, I had to ask myself, "How?!" How can I keep my life free from the love of money and be content with what I have?  Where does contentment come from? Why is it important to do this? 

About 10 years ago, I was having a particular struggle with being content. I made a dumb financial decision that was born from a lack of contentment. I paid personally and, what was worse, my family had to pay for my mistake. All because I wasn’t content with what I had. God began to speak to me about this issue and I began to understand that discontentment has personal, economic, and social price tags that are lasting. It is probably one of the main contributors to our country's financial perils. We could say a bunch about that, couldn't we?

There is an inextricable link between our ability to be content and trust in God our Father. As God has enlightened me in this area, he has been teaching me about this link. About nine years ago, the Holy Spirit brought this to my memory one night as I lay sleeplessly thinking about why it is so difficult for me to totally surrender myself to God and live in complete obedience to Him. Nearly 45 years old, married for over 20 years, children half-raised, and total surrender to and trust in God in all parts of my life was still an issue. 

This particular night we were in Santa Cruz, California. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law had gotten the family a condo on the beach.  While I lay in bed at about 4:00am, I heard dogs barking. It took me a few minutes to focus on the noise, but that’s thought in the back of my mind while I was thinking about these other things. "Stupid dogs barking in the middle of the night!" You know how this works. You’re hearing something in the background and assuming it's a certain thing, but not really focusing on it. Then, you focus your hearing on the noise and discover what it really is.  I heard the barking of dogs in the neighborhood.  But, when I focused on it, the noise was really the barking of seals on the beach.  But, I didn’t understand what I was “hearing” until I focused on it. That illustrates for me God’s work in us.  He has to focus our attention, sometimes one issue at a time. 

My brother-in-law, Gary, taught a Bible study series a number of years ago and made an observation I hadn’t thought of but have realized is true.  When God works with us, He seems to work on one or two issues at a time.  When I asked God about why it was so difficult for me to live in total obedience and trust, he began to speak to me about contentment. That highlights another way God seems to get at our issues. While I'm having trouble in one area of my life, God will sometimes work on something that seems totally unrelated. And, I will eventually find out that what he has been working on in me gets to the root of the problems I was having in the first place. He's doesn't seem all that concerned about fixing things up and making them "pretty." He's concern with what's really going on inside of us. And, in more recent years, he has helped me focus my attention on the truth that trust is grown in me by Jesus in real circumstances of my life as I see his awesome love and grace at work in my life. After all, scripture says he is the author and finisher of our faith. 

When the Holy Spirit started to get my attention he brought to my memory a couple of passages of Scripture—the one at the beginning of this blog first. As I read it again, I was puzzled. I’d overlooked something in the past when I read it (many times). “What does the first part of verse five have to do with the second part of verse five.” I'll bet it's been totally obvious to you, and I thought it was to me.[i]  But, I glossed over something important. I think what the Biblical writer is telling us is that there is an inextricable, inseparable link between contentment and trust.  And, at the core of discontent is an incorrect focus. 

My brother-in-law, Russ, was an experienced hunter.  He had a trained eye.  He could see things I couldn’t when we went hunting together. As we were driving down a country road he would say, “Look over there.  There’s a deer right over there in that field.”  “Where?” I’d say.  And, many times, I couldn’t see it.  He had trained his eyes as a hunter... to see the hunter’s game.  I was young and single, 18 or 19, I think.  Now, if he’d have said, “Look at the pretty girl over there!” ... now, you talk about focus!  Talk about the hunter’s instinct!  I could spot those kinds of Doe^s almost without focusing!  I had trained my eyes.  I had a hunter’s trained eyes. J

Well, at the core of discontent is an incorrect focus.  Not a lack of focus, but a focus on the wrong things.  My focus on things and circumstances and on what I don’t have by way of things and circumstances gets me in trouble.  You remember when the disciples were out in the boat during the storm and Jesus came to them walking on the water, and Peter asked to come to him …to step out of the boat and come to him?  Remember that?  He was supposed to walk on the water to Jesus. But, when Peter took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the storm, the choppy, swelling waves and the cold wind, what happened?  He sank.  When our focus is incorrect, we too start to sink. 

And so, our biblical writer says to us, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have...”  Why?  Look where our focus ought to be if we plan on being content.  Why does he say it is possible for us to be content?  Because God has told us something about Himself. What is it He has told us about Himself?  “Never will I leave you” he says, “never will I forsake you.”  

The answer to our problems, our struggles is never really a formula; the solution is a person.  The person of God, our Father, Himself.  I ask about my circumstance, “How can I do this?!”  God says, “Here I am!” Not thinking I'm hearing correctly, I ask again, "How can I DO this?" Again, God says, "Here I am." I'm thinking, I want to be respectful and reverent, but sheesh, is he hearing me? So, I ask more clearly and succintly, "I didn't ask where you are, God, I asked 'How can I DO this?!" He says again, "I'm right here, Skip." 


What more do I need?!  Our creator’s promise of Himself!  He doesn’t want to just “throw us a bone.”  Rub the bottle and out smokes the genie. “Your wish is my command, Master.”  No, He’s the Master.  He’s the master of the sea and the storm!  “Billows his will obey,” as the song goes.  The Lord says, “You can keep yourself from incorrect focus in your life, on money and things, and be content ... because I’m here... and I’m not going anywhere either.  I’m not going to forsake you. You will find your discontent displaced as we grow in relationship.” He doesn’t say, “Take these pills and see me in the morning.”  He says, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” He says, “Find your rest in me.” A real rest. 

Your answer to discontentment, which can only lead to spiritual ruin, is … Him.  Your solution is a decided trust in his staying power, not yours.  Your remedy for that groping after some relief from that gnawing lack in your soul is your growing conviction that God's got your back, your ever-growing realization of how much he loves you.

What are the consequences of a love of money and stuff and a lack of contentment?   NEXT EPISODE :)