Contentment

Philippians 4:12
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.

So who here is content?  I mean really, completely, I've got nothing to complain about content?  Your relationships are thriving, your job is exactly what you hoped for, you have that degree that you worked so hard for, you are exactly where you want to be in your life.  You've got the house, the cars, the health, the wealth and you lack nothing, except maybe a new computer and an 80 inch TV.

In the world we live in contentment is defined by the stuff you own, which really to be quite honest, usually owns you.  Contentment is having the right things, knowing the right people, having the right style, saying the right thing.

What happened?

When did all of us start looking to instant gratification for contentment, when did being happy mean contentment?  For me, happiness and contentment are not always mutually exclusive, but they aren't the same thing either.  The NIV bible uses the word content 16 times and the word happiness 6 times and they are never used in the same scripture...it makes you think.
According to Webster's dictionary content means "a state of satisfaction".  The same book says that happy is defined as "feeling or showing pleasure or contentment".

I may be splitting hairs here, but the dictionary just told me that  have to be content before I can be happy?  Biblically that makes all the sense in the world.

How happy can we be when we are chasing after things that God may not have intended us to have? How happy can we be when we rely on material things, people who aren't perfect and never will be, and feelings that change faster than we can keep up for our contentment?

I think that as a country, as a world, we have lost sight of what God intended. Simplicity.  I'm as guility of it as the next person.  I'm writing on a blog on a computer, if my computer died right now, yeah, 1st world problem.Truth.

I really want to make the concerned effort to look at my life and peel away the things that impede my contentment, the insecurities that rock me to the core, the selfishness that I allow to yell "me first!", the pride that I permit in my life that makes me irrational in my expectations and demanding of the people that I love the most.

God has got this.  If I would just stop pushing for what I don't have and focus on all of what he has given me, AMEN, my life would be so much easier.  Contentment would reside in my heart and peace would be granted.  It's not my nature, but God is revealing that it can be if I so choose.

That right there is the rub, you have to choose it, you have to choose to be content with what you have, to live where you are, in the body that you are in, in your circumstances and then gratefully hand them over to God to allow him to give you the gift of contentment.

However, don't just sit there and wait for God to do all the work.  Get on your knees and ask.

Kris